Following four wins at the Leopardstown meeting on Tuesday,
Jun. 10, 2020, Aidan O'Brien's luck seemed to run out when one of the trainer's
horses was fatally injured in an event. Year of the Tiger had to be put down
after entering into the Trial stakes as a 6-5 favourite to win. The colt was
actually pulled up by Seamus Heffernan, following an apparent injury.
Heffernan noticed that his horse wasn't performing in the
way it should, so he dismounted, and the colt was taken for veterinary
examinations. Unfortunately, it seemed like there was little that could be done,
and Year of the Tiger passed away peacefully. This came just hours after Tom
Hogan's multiple Group 1 winner Gordon Lord Byron, also
passed away very suddenly on Tuesday morning, after he participated in gallops.
This came as quite the shock for many Irish horse racing
fans, considering the animal had had quite a fairytale story as far as horse
racing goes. It had won Group 1 races that had taken place in France, the UK
and Australia, starting with the Prix de la Foret at Longchamp, where he was ridden
by William Buick.
It was these races and various others that had led to Gordon
Lord Byron being heavily wagered on by sports betting fans. In fact, the
Betwinner platform had seen quite an influx of gamblers betting on that very
horse on Tuesday, some of which came through the Betwinner mobile app
as well. That's one of the great perks about being a player at Betwinner – the possibility
of wagering on your favourite horses from any location without the need of a
desktop computer.
O'Brien Wins Four Times, but Year of the Tiger's Demise
Overshadows It All
It was on Sunday, Jun. 7 that O'Brien collected the victory
in the English classic 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket, thanks to Love crossing the
finish line in first place. Two additional wins came from the return of Irish
racing at Naas on the following day. However, with the death of Year of the
Tiger, the sport stands out as being quite devastating.
Yet, Tuesday seemed to have been going so well for the
trainer, with four opening wins behind closed doors occurring. These came at
cumulative odds of 907-1, thanks to horses Ennistymon, Love Locket, Tiger Moth
and Cormorant all claiming their own victories. Heffernan was the rider of Ennistymon
in the opening maiden, and he then went on to guide Love Locket to its win
in the Group 3 Fillies Trial.
It was jockey Wayne Lordan who rode Tiger Moth, managing to
just outdo Heffernan on Dawn Patrol in that race. Meanwhile, in the race that
Year of the Tiger suffered his injury, Jim Bolger saw his Ten Year Ticket claim
the first-place prize, being ridden by Kevin Manning. That was quite the
accolade, as the colt didn't debut until October of 2019, winning at the
Curragh when he did.
