Heart failure killed Detroit City (From Gazette Series)

Heart failure killed Detroit City

10:45am Tuesday 27th November 2007 in Sport By Keith Watson

DETROIT CITY, the popular grey horse owned by Cam-based Terry Warner, died during a race at Ascot on Saturday.

The five-year-old appeared to take a heavy fall at the second obstacle in the Coral Ascot Hurdle.

However, the death was not a result of a fall but of a heart problem.

Warner said: "He actually died in the air. He didn't fall, he jumped the hurdle.

"It was his heart. We had a post-mortem done and it was a valve on the right-hand side of his heart that failed.

"It was very quick, so he wouldn't have suffered - he wouldn't have known anything about it."

It is a little under two years since Warner had to deal with similarly tragic news when his 2003 Champion Hurdle winner Rooster Booster died on the gallops at Philip Hobbs' Somerset yard.

On Saturday, Detroit City was running for the first time in seven months after a disappointing end to last season.

The grey went off 6-4 favourite for the Champion Hurdle but trailed in sixth and then finished last in a race at the Grand National meeting at Aintree in April.

Connections spent the summer working on his back and breathing and the Ascot race was the first step towards preparing for another tilt at Cheltenham next March.

Detroit City had previously won eight races in a row including the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle and the Cesarewitch on the flat.

He also gave Warner a Cheltenham Festival win in 2006 when landing the spoils in the Triumph Hurdle.