2018 Cartier Horse of the Year Roaring Lion (Kitten's Joy–Vionnet, by Street Sense) is recovering from colic surgery at Cambridge Equine Veterinary Hospital in New Zealand, Cambridge Stud announced early Sunday morning. The Qatar Racing colourbearer, who has been withdrawn from service for the entirety of the Southern Hemisphere covering season as a result, was due to stand his first season at the historic nursery for NZ$35,000 + GST. Shuttling from his Northern Hemisphere base of Tweenhills Stud, the four-time Group 1 winner had just cleared quarantine at 6 a.m. local time Sunday morning and had been enjoying some time in his paddock when his symptoms began which resulted in emergency surgery.
“We want to act in the best interests of Sheikh Fahad and our shareholders,” said Cambridge Stud CEO Henry Plumptre in a statement. “Following major surgery, we feel it is appropriate to withdraw the horse from service with all shareholders being fully refunded. Our best-case scenario is that Roaring Lion makes a full recovery and can be returned safely to the U.K. While everyone at Cambridge Stud is shattered, we feel the obligation to Sheikh Fahad, David Redvers [of Tweenhills] and our shareholders is important. It is a massive blow to lose Roaring Lion like this, but his ongoing welfare is now our prime concern.”
Out of GI Rodeo Drive S. third Vionnet, the English/Irish highweight is currently recovering and his prognosis has already improved since the initial assessment.
“I had a fairly upbeat report from the Plumptres, which was heartening, the critical time is obviously the first 48 hours after an operation like this,” Tweenhills Stud and Qatar Racing's Racing Manager David Redvers told Racing Post on his way to New Zealand. “He had a small intestine colic–it was a very rare case, a freak event really–and without going into too many specifics, the reason he's alive now is because they spotted it immediately. It happened at Cambridge Stud, our stallion man Reece Sutcliffe was out there with the horse and immediately knew something was wrong and they rushed him straight into Cambridge Hospital.
“Normally with a small intestine, the horse is dead very quickly if it's not operated on immediately because you can't very successfully reset, i.e. cut out, sections of the small intestine. Because they were able to get him in and get the very best care, they had the best experts in colic surgery from both the major practices in Cambridge on site working on the horse. They've managed to untwist the section of gut that was causing the problem, repair a small hole, and flush everything through.”
Added Redvers to Racing TV's Luck On Sunday, “As long as it all still works, which we won't really discover for 48 hours–we're 24 hours in now–then we're hopeful,” he said. “Obviously if he colics again I'm afraid the news will be very bad. So we're all on tenterhooks. It's obviously tough for everybody, it just reminds us all that horses are living creatures and it reminds me particularly of the pain stable staff must feel when they lose their loved and cherished horses.”
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