Racing: Winter galloper put down after injury

Danzapride, the horse who gave veteran Waikato trainer Jim Mouat the racing thrills of a lifetime and his first trip abroad, has been put down.

Mouat, 76, made the heart-breaking decision to put his best mate down after the Danzalion eight-year-old fractured a leg in a morning gallop at Te Awamutu last Tuesday.

Mouat said vets had told him Danzapride, a top performer on winter tracks, could have been saved but it would have required three months in plaster with no prospect of a full recovery and the prospect of arthritis after a year.

"The sun got up this morning and it's a little easier today than it was yesterday," Mouat said last week.

"It was the right thing to do for the horse. And he was so tough through it. He was still putting 20 per cent of his weight on it right to the end."

Danzapride won 15 of his 62 starts, 13 of his victories coming at either Ellerslie, Trentham or Riccarton. At the latter venue he won the Enterprise Homes Handicap (1400m) for four successive years.

"He gave us all a free holiday down there every year," Mouat said of his Riccarton wins.

"To win that race four years in a row was the best of what he did in New Zealand."

Danzapride's other wins came at Tauranga and Gawler in South Australia. The South Australian three-race campaign was Mouat's first trip overseas.

"He was pretty special," Mouat said.

Mouat raced Danzapride with his daughters Vi Mildon and Della MacFarlane, and granddaughter Sonia MacFarlane. He earned them $224,919 in stakes.

- NZPA