Vautour - RIP

convert

Just saw on Attheraces on Twitter that Vautour has had to be put down. Very sad news.

https://mobile.twitter.com/AtTheRaces/status/795308773904556032

MoscowFlyer

This sucks - was really looking forward to watching him this season

convert

He broke a foreleg. More info here:

THREE-TIME Cheltenham Festival winner Vautour has died after a freak accident at Willie Mullins' yard.

"He broke a foreleg and has had to be put down," his trainer told the Racing Post on Sunday evening.

The seven-year-old was the 8-1 second favourite to add the 2017 Timico Gold Cup to his Supreme (2014), JLT (2015) and Ryanair (2016) festival successes.

The five-time Grade 1 winner was victorious on ten of his 16 career starts and only finished out of the first two once, when falling at Aintree in the Grade 1 JLT Melling Chase.

http://www.racingpost.com/news/live.sd?event_id=21424824&category=0

gazza1

Just awful news. So sad

Nulty

what a terrible day for Mullins, lost Avant Tout earlier as well

jimjamcos

Sick. What a sight he was in full flight.

Will never forget that JLT win.

That is truly a great loss to racing.

mdwexford

Fcuking gutted. Poor Vautour.

Probably my favourite horse in training.

Raging they didn't let him take his chance in the Gold Cup last year, really think he would have crushed them. Was such a monster round Cheltenham.

sdoc13

Ah jesus. One of my favorites. Gutted. Some unbelievable performance s from him at Cheltenham. Was really hoping to see him in the gold cup this year. Rip.

Johner

Gutted.

jimjamcos

I know it's hindsight but they should have let him roll in the Gold Cup. He deserved the chance.

They'll be thinking the same now.

What could have been!

I said

Terrible shame

Gringo180

Very sad news. Rip big fella.

barney4001

first time i seen him run i thought another arkle

BumperD

His Supreme & JLT wins.....cannot find his Ryanair Chase

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aowQPlDHJcc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o1NZqRWYHo

Copper_pipe

https://twitter.com/myracingtips/status/795335445630636032

longshotvalue

BumperD wrote: »

His Supreme & JLT wins.....cannot find his Ryanair Chase

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aowQPlDHJcc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o1NZqRWYHo

The supreme is just outstanding. Hard to believe well never seem him flying around that last turn again.

dickenson famous5

Sad day chin up willie

dk6dk6

3 of the greatest performances in recent memory at Cheltenhan, Vautour has been involved in. Was a special horse who will be badly missed.

I like everyone else am disappointed we'll never get to see him crowned Gold Cup winner.

Panrich

Hard to take when this happens out in the paddock. You'd think the odds of a NH horse breaking its leg there is much less.

Huntley

A wonderful animal. One of the best I've ever seen on the track. Desperately sad for his groom.

RivetingRoger

convert wrote: »

Just saw on Attheraces on Twitter that Vautour has had to be put down. Very sad news.

https://mobile.twitter.com/AtTheRaces/status/795308773904556032

One year ago today. Still the most exciting horse I ever saw. Still devastating. GOAT

tryfix

That's shocking, such a magnificent chaser. He floated over the ground.

diomed

Bad day for the breeder, owner, trainer, jockey, stable staff, and fans.

longshotvalue

I think he was the best Ive ever seen around cheltenham. That supreme was top notch.

I used to get so annoyed here with lads saying a he'd never stay the gold cup. I thought he was unbeatable around there and it was like he knew cheltenham was what it was .

RivetingRoger

This horses death cut me much more than any others. Still so pist off at WPM for what I see as his bottling it with the GC in order to get Ruby on Djakadam. I think Willie will always regret it. I remember RR interview with Rishi in the ring after sounding VERY annoyed.
Vautour is the GOAT at Cheltenham for me, 3 diff races 3 EXHIBITIONS of racing. Would have won the last two GCs in my opinion

kfallon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWoCNOCtUw8

Love this tribute, still sadly missed!

For some reason I was thinking about him about 6 weeks ago, I won't lie I got a bit more emotional than I should have

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

Massimo Tara

I'll have what ziggy is smoking

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

Massimo Tara

I'm questioning whether you've even watched the race because the horse struggling in third and eventually fell was Don Cossack who went on to win the GC.

Panrich

No matter what way you cut it, he had no form over 3m+ to say that he would have won a gold cup. He certainly seemed to be outstayed by Cue Card that day in Kempton. It might have been down to tactics and going too early but he still got chinned. Don Cossack was struggling a bit but was still upsides the winner when he fell 2 out. I'd say his struggles were down to being outpaced and he'd have stayed on again.

In the end, coming around the last bend he had both well off the bridle but still didn't win. Add in another couple of furlongs and a hill (albeit one he was well proven on), and he'd have had a lot more to prove.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

RivetingRoger

He hit the last fence a right whallop, and, and this is HUGE, he was never a christmas horse, he was always a Spring horse, and if you remember the week of Cheltenham the going was good to soft. It was ideal for him.
Kempton was wetter than he liked, heavier than he liked and going the wrong way for him, and he was barely barely nosed by one of the best chasers out there in their ideal conditions, having whalloped the last fecne....

C'ham was the right ground, the right time of year, and the right direction and he was in sparkling form

No-one will ever convince me that Vautour wasn't a GC horse, he woulda laughed at them that day, and last year
Last year was a poor GC, which again Vautour would have won I am convinced the poor divil

sweeneed

RivetingRoger wrote: »

He hit the last fence a right whallop, and, and this is HUGE, he was never a christmas horse, he was always a Spring horse, and if you remember the week of Cheltenham the going was good to soft. It was ideal for him.
Kempton was wetter than he liked, heavier than he liked and going the wrong way for him, and he was barely barely nosed by one of the best chasers out there in their ideal conditions, having whalloped the last fecne....

C'ham was the right ground, the right time of year, and the right direction and he was in sparkling form

No-one will ever convince me that Vautour wasn't a GC horse, he woulda laughed at them that day, and last year
Last year was a poor GC, which again Vautour would have won I am convinced the poor divil

Fully agree! people also forget his age. cue card couldnt really get the distance in his younger years and became a serious contender from about 8/9years old on. vautour was very much a spring horse and would certainly have won gold cup given decent ground!

RivetingRoger

Think some people have forgotten how special Vautour actually was

WPM called his the best horse he ever trained or words to that effect

Billgirlylegs

RivetingRoger wrote: »

Think some people have forgotten how special Vautour actually was

WPM called his the best horse he ever trained or words to that effect

Did he say that about Douvan as well?

On what I saw (and it appears what Messrs Walsh and Mullins thought) Vautour would have run out of gas after the 3rd last in 2016.
Florida Pearl, Dublin Flyer, One Man were similar.

Not taking anything away from his performances at three festivals, but the Gold Cup demands bullet proof stamina. Some odd results have been delivered over the years by slower horses who had this.

Itziger

RivetingRoger wrote: »

Think some people have forgotten how special Vautour actually was

WPM called his the best horse he ever trained or words to that effect

I haven't forgotten how special he was and the 3 Cheltenham wins are there for all to see. But to jump from that to people here saying he 'certainly' would have won the GC. No wonder the bookies are rich.

As far as I know the horse never ran 3.2 miles in his life and ran out of gas when he tried 3. So, 'certainly' is about the one thing that his GC win would NOT have been.

RivetingRoger

Billgirlylegs wrote: »

Did he say that about Douvan as well?

On what I saw (and it appears what Messrs Walsh and Mullins thought) Vautour would have run out of gas after the 3rd last in 2016.
Florida Pearl, Dublin Flyer, One Man were similar.

Not taking anything away from his performances at three festivals, but the Gold Cup demands bullet proof stamina. Some odd results have been delivered over the years by slower horses who had this.

Nope, he was entered in the GC, according to RR he was GC or nothing, but they said he had been stinking the place out of it since Christmas and considered leaving him at home altogether. They put him in the ryanair "more in hope than expectation" and once again he showed what he was, the classiest chaser in the UK/Ire, and that was when he was supposedly off form.
If they didnt think he would get the trip they wouldnt have entered him in the GC only to withdraw him due to form, not a worry about the trip

Turned out they were wrong about the form........

HandsomeBob

Itziger wrote: »

I haven't forgotten how special he was and the 3 Cheltenham wins are there for all to see. But to jump from that to people here saying he 'certainly' would have won the GC. No wonder the bookies are rich.

As far as I know the horse never ran 3.2 miles in his life and ran out of gas when he tried 3. So, 'certainly' is about the one thing that his GC win would NOT have been.

That's horse racing. There's always ifs and buts that people will come up with to save themselves the bother of admitting they might have been wrong.

Not the horse's time of season.

Had he stayed up.

Jockey made a bollix of it.

Never tried.

Found to be injured after the fact.

The spoofs and excuses are infinite in this sport.

RivetingRoger

They were compaing footpad to Vautour on On The Line last night.........

Footpad.......

to Vautour.........

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

Shemale

RivetingRoger wrote: »

Think some people have forgotten how special Vautour actually was

WPM called his the best horse he ever trained or words to that effect

Nope, he was a complete machine but to put him ahead of Flying Bolt or Arkle is ****ing mental

abarkie

WPM trained Arkle or Flying bolt?

diomed

RivetingRoger wrote: »

They were compaing footpad to Vautour on On The Line last night.........

Footpad.......
to Vautour.........

I'm wondering if Footpad is named after this classic thread on the Cycling Forum for 2008.
"Cyclists, Go use the footpad."
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055434174
On the cycling thread everyone now uses the word footpad instead of footpath.

I is a bit like on poker forums people use pwned. Years ago someone won a hand and in his rush to brag in the chat box that the loser was owned he type pwned.

Shemale

abarkie wrote: »

WPM trained Arkle or Flying bolt?

Might have done if he was a bit older at the time . I take Willie saying a horse is the best he trained with a pinch of salt, infact I take pretty much everything he says with a pinch of salt.

Shemale wrote: »

Nope, he was a complete machine but to put him ahead of Flying Bolt or Arkle is ****ing mental

Was my reply to Roger who said:

RivetingRoger wrote: »

One year ago today. Still the most exciting horse I ever saw. Still devastating. GOAT

RivetingRoger wrote: »

Think some people have forgotten how special Vautour actually was

WPM called his the best horse he ever trained or words to that effect

RivetingRoger

Ricci last night compared Samcro to a young Vautour....
last week it was foopad...

poor ol Vautour, gone but never forgotten