One of my favourite horses died on Saturday.

His name was West Coast. He was New Zealand’s best steeplechaser, one of the best to ever jump raceday fences.

He was a champion of his kind.

West Coast was humanely put down after fracturing his shoulder in the Waikato Steeples at Te Rapa.

He jumped hundreds and hundreds of fences in his life and this time he landed awkwardly and one bone, one joint in his big strong body was pushed or bent the wrong way.

Something broke.

A few minutes later West Coast was dead, put to sleep to spare him pain, at the very track where he won two Great Northern Steeplechases, the same track he won his last start before Saturday just a few weeks ago.

West Coast will now never leave the scene of arguably his greatest triumph. His trainer Mark Oulaghan left though.

Oulaghan left Te Rapa on Saturday with an empty berth in his horse float where hours earlier a legend had stood.

For horse trainers that is their second worst nightmare, taking a horse to the races who never comes home.

The only worse tragedy, of course, is the loss of human life in racing, or any sport.

About the only mercy out of this West Coast sadness is that jockey Joshua Parker was not seriously hurt.

But our best jumps horse, the poster boy for the struggling code which just two years ago faced extinction, is now gone.

There will now be those who want to make West Coast a different type of poster boy.

Some people in racing don’t like jumps racing, more for economic reasons, and those who are anti-racing can really hate jumps racing.

It is an easy target, after all, sometimes race horses die.

That, very conveniently, ignores the simple fact of life that humans die participating in their chosen sports all the time.

Not just the risky stuff like combat sports or motor racing but normal people die doing everything from running marathons to playing social rugby or even first-class cricket.

Heartbreakingly in those cases, too, something breaks and those athletes never go home either. Like West Coast.

The difference, some will tell you, is choice and free will.

Humans choose to participate in a sport whereas horses are made to participate.

I liked West Coast the horse the first time I heard his name because I am from the West Coast and we coasters don’t get much named after our home these days.

As I followed his career, I grew to love him.

Not because he was fast, because he wasn’t.

Because he was brave. Because, as much as I could tell, he loved racing and winning.

But what would I know. I watched from afar. I didn’t really know West Coast.

I didn’t pat him, feed him, hug him, own him and I honestly can’t remember ever backing him.

But Mark Oulaghan knew West Coast.

He spent years with him, often travelling just the two of them together.

A man and his mate, like you and your dog, if your dog weighed 550kg.

“He was a lovely big kind horse,” Oulaghan said of his three-time Grand National winner.

“He was very placid and would always try to please you.”

So how does Oulaghan feel knowing his mate, his family pet, died on a racetrack when he could have spent the next 20 years eating grass and getting fat in a paddock?

A man of few words, he thinks, then answers.

“It is part of racing and I know it is not a great look for jumps racing because he was such a great horse.

“But he loved it. He loved racing and I really think he loved winning.

“He liked being better at it than the other horses.”

As Oulaghan quietly, softly says those words something dawns on me.

It is 11.30am in London where I am, meaning it is 10.30pm in New Zealand.

Thoroughbred horse trainers are only ever awake that late if they are celebrating and Mark Oulaghan has nothing to celebrate.

I apologise to him for having rung so late at the end of a dark day.

“It is okay. I was just sitting here,” Oulaghan says.

“I don’t think I will be getting much sleep tonight.”

As for West Coast, he will never wake up.

But, like very, very few of us, he will never be forgotten. - Michael Guerin

Western Front anything but Quiet

A lengthy campaign for talented stayer The Western Front (NZ) (War Decree) is set to continue, with the Lindsay Park team of Ben, Will and JD Hayes eyeing further opportunities for the in-form galloper through the winter.

The five-year-old resumed from a Pakenham jumpout in December and has enjoyed a fruitful preparation, recording four victories from eight starts and banking A$262,350 in prizemoney.

His latest success came in the Listed Sandown Cup (3200m) on May 31, where he produced a determined performance to hold off Zibulon and Tajanis, securing the first stakes win of his career.

While suitable staying races over two miles are scarce in the coming weeks, the Hayes team is keen to press on with the gelding. The Western Front is expected to be among the nominations for Saturday's 2500m quality handicap at Flemington.

"Ideally we'd like to stay at 3200m but it was the next option here in Victoria and he's shown that he's trained on beautifully and we can't fault him," JD Hayes told Racenet.

"He was quite good in the Andrew Ramsden (2800m) too at set weights, so we're very happy with him, he's rock hard fit and he stays, so I think he'll be hard to beat again.

"We'll go run-by-run, we'll see how we go, but the plan is to not stop. Hopefully he'll be a bit of an ATM, he'll win more money in work than out of work."

Hayes said the stable would continue to assess the gelding's program as the preparation unfolds, but there is no immediate intention to send him for a break.

Elsewhere, star galloper Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars) continues to progress well after undergoing minor surgery to remove a small chip from his left fore fetlock.

The multiple Group One winner is building towards a return in the Gr.1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield.

"He's in work, under saddle and moving beautifully," Hayes said.

"He's been doing a lot of pre-work before the saddle went on so he's right where we want him. Treadmill, water walker, as much work as you can do with no rider on his back."

The stable also enjoyed success at Sandown Hillside on Saturday, where Bankers Choice (NZ) (Mongolian Khan) relished the rain-affected track to take out the Quayclean Handicap (1800m), with the ten-time winner now having amassed A$1,730,612 in prizemoney. - NZ Racing Desk

Well-related gelding scores first win

Well-related gelding Hi Yo Fox Rox (NZ) (Complacent) broke through for his maiden win at the second time of asking when taking out the Manawatu-Whanganui Civil Contractors NZ Maiden (1600m) at Wanganui on Saturday.

A full-brother to Group One performer Hi Yo Sass Bomb, Hi Yo Fox Rox finished 10th on debut over 1400m at Waverley last month but trainer Kim Reid, who races him with her parents Josephine and Graeme, expected the four-year-old to take plenty of improvement from that first-up effort.

Settling towards the rear of the pack on Saturday, Hi Yo Fox Rox had his work cut out for him when turning for home, but apprentice jockey Hayley Hassman presented him to the extreme outside where he showed a good turn of foot to run over the top of his rivals to win by 1-1/4 lengths over Released.

“On paper, his last run didn’t look that good, but we were both really happy with how he didn’t give up, although he had no favours,” Hassman said.

“Today he was still so green, but he put it together nicely in the straight.”

Reid was rapt with the win and expects Hi Yo Fox Rox to continue to improve over further ground.

“The form looked a bit average, but he is a youngster and is up-and-coming and I think he is a stayer in the making,” she said. “He has got a lot of improvement to make.

“I thought it might be too good for him today and he has done really well.”

While a full-brother to Hi Yo Sass Bomb, Reid said they are nothing alike.

“He is very different to his sister, but he is a trier, has a great attitude and wants to be there,” she said. “He looks totally different and goes totally different. He is not a big, fat horse like his sister, he is a bit of a lean bean.”

Hi Yo Sass Bomb (NZ) (Complacent) has returned to work in preparation for a spring preparation, and Reid is excited for what awaits the rising eight-year-old next season.

“She is back in work and she looks fantastic,” Reid said. “She is in for a good season hopefully.”

Hi Yo Fox Rox will head to the paddock for a week where he will be joined by fellow New Plymouth galloper Capaci (NZ) (Tivaci), who returned to winning form at Wanganui when taking out the Neilo 1600.

The Tivaci filly showed plenty of promise early this season, winning on debut at her home track in December before placing in the Gr.3 Eulogy Stakes (1600m).

However, her season hit a snag following her black-type result, with Capaci getting an infection in her leg, and trainer Robbie Patterson said they have been playing catch-up ever since.

“She won massive first-up, she then ran third in the Eulogy and then got a bug in her leg and she was out for quite a while,” Patterson said. “We have been battling with her a wee bit but luckily her owners are very patient people.”

Patterson has high hopes for Capaci and said he will map out a plan for her following a short break.

“She has definitely got a future,” he said. “She is going to go out with Hi Yo Fox today for a week and we will pick something through the winter.” - Joshua Smith LOVERACING.NZ News Desk

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