Dual Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Sprinter Sacre is back home and recovering from surgery he underwent this week, in an emotional rollercoaster for his owner.
The 20-year-old, who won fans’ hearts during his stellar National Hunt racing career, had an operation to remove bone fragments from his near fore, at Donnington Grove Equine Vets in Newbury, and returned home yesterday (29 January).
Vicky Roberts, who has owned Sprinter for about seven years, told H&H he faces three to four weeks of box rest but should make a full recovery and return to taking part in racecourse parades, as well as the hacking he enjoys.
“He’s my absolute world,” she said. “Not having him here the past couple of nights; I’ve been doing the other horses, thinking ‘I’m doing all your companions, but you’re not here’.”
Vicky said Sprinter came in from the field in mid-January with a tiny nick, just below his knee, which had some pus emerging but did not seem major. She called the vet, who took multiple X-rays but could find nothing wrong.
“He had some antibiotics, but they didn’t help, and when the vet came back, he said it was either [bone infection] osteomyelitis, or sequestrum, where a bang to the leg can dislodge a piece of bone and it dies off,” Vicky said.
The vet said Sprinter Sacre needed the surgery, and there were some crossed wires about the bills; a fundraising page was set up to ensure Vicky could cover all the vet costs, but Nicky Henderson, who trained Sprinter to his multiple successes, said he would pay for the operation, and all donations were refunded. He will need follow-up vet checks, Vicky said, but he is stitched up, bandaged and on the road to recovery.
Horse & Hound Newsletter
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
‘He almost speaks to you’
“He’s the most human horse I’ve ever worked with,” Vicky said. “He almost communicates with you, speaks to you and tells you. You walk in, in the morning and starts licking his lips, and creates this white foamy lava, ‘breakfast is coming’. But after he’d done that nick – it was so minimal, no swelling, I didn’t bandage it the first night – the next morning, he looked at me, and went and stood at the back of the stable, didn’t do the licking of the lips for breakfast or anything. He was saying ‘Actually, this hurts. Deal with it’.
“I’ve worked with horses all my life, so I don’t find it a responsibility, it’s my way of life. When I first got him, I had lots of racehorses in at that time, from various trainers on box rest, injured, sick, so when he came to me, as famous as he was, I don’t think I really realised how much of a people’s horse he was and how much he was loved.
“A year or so after he came to me, we put out a few photos, before we set up his Facebook page, and I’d sit reading the comments and it would bring tears to my eyes. That’s what really brought home to me how lucky I was.”
Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
