The race was Bleu Et Rouge’s first under trainer Ben Haslam. He, and former trainer Willie Mullins, joined together to mourn the passing. Haslam described Bleu Et Rouge as a “real gent of horse”, and went on to say “we hadn’t had him that long but my wife Alice rode him every day, she really got on with him and was absolutely devastated”.
Under Mullins, the horse has won the Grade 1 Deloitte Novice Hurdle and was runner up in the Betfair Hurdle. Rode by Will Kennedy in the fateful race on Saturday, Bleu Et Rouge was still in contention before coming down.
Mullins described the horse, who had won over £100,000 prize money in his career, as a “very good horse” who, despite success, “never really maximised his potential or showed the huge ability he displayed at home”. Bleu Et Rouge was seven years old.
Buveur D’Air extends unbeaten run to eleven races
Despite the rain, spectators flowed into Newcastle for the weekend’s festival. The Fighting Fifth was won by another horse owned by McManus, Buveur D’Air. That win extended his unbeaten run to an impressive eleven races.
Buveur D’Air was facing stiff competition and it was far from certain he would emerge the winner from the race. Sommerville Boy, the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner, and Samcro, who at 6/5 was the pre-race favourite, offered stiff competition. Due to that competition, Buveur D’Air left at 11/8, the longest odds he has seen since his first championship win.
Samcro led the race for a time, but the champion ran clear in the final third to eventually win by eight-lengths. Samcro set a good pace but simply didn’t have the legs for the final straight. Trainers of both Samcro and Somerville Boy acknowledged the talent of Buveur D’Air and said that the best horse won on the day.
With that win, Buveur D’Air is well on course to pull off three championship wins, something spectacularly achieved by another McManus horse, Istabraq.
