Antonios Suffers Fatal Heart Attack |
| The news about Antonios has cast a pall over the Indian racing fraternity. Yes, we are preoccupied with activities leading up to the Invitation Cup weekend but Antonios’ death has made us pause and reflect on the fragility of racehorses and what his 2009 Derby victory meant to racing in India. Hotstepper got the ‘Glory of Dancer’ bandwagon rolling. That was in the Indian Derby in 2008 and Mick Kinane made one of those rare pre-retirement visits to Mumbai. In 2009, Set Alight was supported to the exclusion of her rivals in a Derby that was run in the second week of April. Antonios, another son of Glory of Dancer, made a stunning stretch charge to collar Set Alight late in the lane. An out-of-turn Invitation Cup was run at Malakpet in late October last year and Antonios suffered a narrow loss at the hands of Autonomy. A trip to the Dubai Carnival was an ambitious project. The Rattonseys have no fear of the unknown. They have the wisdom of trainer SS Shah available to them. The Dubai journey, therefore, was not a hard decision. The Dubai race did not turn as well as one would have hoped. The project was not abandoned. Antonios was trained for his second race at the Meydan. That was not to be. Antonios began showing signs of distress. It was found that there was damage to the pelvic area. Plans were afoot to bring the Derby winner back to India and let him have an existence free from pressure and stress. Monday morning, Farooq Rattonsey received a call. “It was heartbreaking,” he told me. “The news was that there was internal bleeding and Antonios had suffered a massive heart attack. He did not survive. Mr Shah is in Dubai. This is hard to take. He (Antonios) was so good to us.” I had a question or two about Beautiful Stranger. “I own the Sire and the Dam. Glory of Dancer is proving to be exceptional. In his debut, Beautiful Star was beaten narrowly. We saw promise. Our plan was to go in a (three year-old) race on Derby day. A tendon problem stopped him from racing that day. He began training and gave us every reason to be optimistic. That was an impressive race,” Farooq Rattonsey narrated. What about targets for Beautiful Stranger? “We may race him one more time in Mumbai. That’s not a given. He came out of Sunday’s race in great order. Bangalore is not on our agenda. He will campaign in Pune. At this point, I cannot think of specific races. He has a lot of potential. I am excited.” The conversation turned to the races at week’s end. “Onassis will go in the Super Mile. Two races in two weeks took too much out of him and that is why, I think he did not do well in the Eclipse Stakes. The (Mile) distance will suit him. We may ask Richard Hughes to ride. Now, I’ll tell you about Juventus. He’s very capable. He must be given the respect he deserves. Silvestre de Sousa will be on Juventus,” Farooq thought aloud. |
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