After a couple of lacklustre performances this season, Sea Snipe — the 2007 Horse & Hound leading horse — has been retired by her owner-breeders Ben and Sally Messer-Bennetts.
With a career tally of 16 pointing wins, Sea Snipe provided the Messer-Bennetts with the highlight of their 25 years in racing when her 10 successes last term secured the prestigious Horse & Hound award for the country’s winning-most point-to-pointer.
“Last year we just hoped to win a couple of open races, but by March she had won five point-to-points and it was suggested by a friend that we go for the Horse & Hound,” said Ben Messer-Bennetts.
“There are a lot of better horses, but she was so gutsy and she didn’t know what being beaten was.
“The fire has now gone out of her belly and she doesn’t owe us anything. People go through life without a winner and we’ve been very lucky.”
This news report was first published in Horse & Hound (24 April, ’08)
