{"id":6306,"date":"2026-04-10T16:12:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=6306"},"modified":"2026-04-10T16:12:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:12:44","slug":"grand-national-horse-gold-dancer-put-down-after-winning-race-with-broken-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=6306","title":{"rendered":"Grand National horse Gold Dancer put down after winning race with broken back"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\"Horse\t<\/div>
Gold Dancer was put down after suffering from a broken back (Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gold Dancer was put down after suffering a broken back during his win in the Mildmay Novices\u2019 Chase on day two of the Grand National Meeting at Aintree on Friday.<\/p>\n

The seven-year-old dragged his back legs through the final fence and landed awkwardly but was ridden out to win by jockey Paul Townend, who whipped the horse after his fall.<\/p>\n

Gold Dancer was immediately pulled up after winning the race and Townend quickly dismounted before screens were put up for veterinary experts to treat the horse.<\/p>\n

However, it was announced shortly after that Gold Dancer \u2018could not be saved\u2019.<\/p>\n

Eddie O\u2019Leary of Gold Dancer\u2019s owners Gigginstown said:\u00a0\u2018He\u2019s been put down. He broke his back. It\u2019s terribly sad for the horse.<\/p>\n

\u2018What could Paul Townend do? He felt fine, it was just when he pulled up that something was wrong.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Horse\t<\/div>
Gold Dancer dragged his legs through the final fence (Action Images via Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A stewards\u2019 enquiry was held after the race and confirmed that no action will be taken against Townend for continuing to ride Gold Dancer with a serious injury.<\/p>\n

\u2018Paul Townend explained that Gold Dancer had made a bad mistake at the last fence after which it had taken a stride or two for the gelding to gather himself before, in his opinion, Townend added that it was only until rounding the bend towards the pull up area that the gelding\u2019s action changed when Gold Dancer went from a canter to a trot after which he immediately dismounted from the gelding,\u2019 the report read.<\/p>\n

\u2018After reviewing the footage, The Director of Equine, Safety, and Welfare explained that Gold Dancer\u2019s action was typical of a three-mile chaser in the final stages of a race and supported the evidence of Townend.\u2019<\/p>\n

Former jockey Lizzie Kelly also defended Townend and believes he \u2018eased this horse down as best he could\u2019 after realising he had suffered an injury.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think what is really important to remember is that obviously as a jockey, you don\u2019t really have a huge amount of information when you\u2019re on top of the racehorse,\u2019 Kelly told talkSPORT.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s very easy to see things when you\u2019re watching but when you\u2019re actually sat on the horse, it\u2019s really difficult to have all of the information.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"LIVERPOOL,\t<\/div>
Paul Townend and trainer Willie Mullins moments after Gold Dancer won the race (Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018So when the horse made a mistake, obviously he\u2019s then got to try and collect the horse back together and then get that horse to carry on racing.<\/p>\n

\u2018He would not have known and there is absolutely no way he would have known that the horse had broken its back.<\/p>\n

\u2018I expect that from what I could see, he\u2019s ridden him away and thought, \u2018right, I\u2019ll just carry on and go and win this race,\u2019 unaware of the situation and because of the adrenaline running through the racehorse, that horse wouldn\u2019t have felt as like there was a problem.<\/p>\n

\u2018Probably I think you saw Paul Townend look down didn\u2019t you? And he immediately put his stick down and kind of stopped riding him.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"LIVERPOOL,\t<\/div>
Paul Townend will face no sanctions after riding Gold Dancer to victory with an injury (Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Obviously at that point I think Paul Townend probably realised the horse didn\u2019t feel 100 per cent and so therefore he\u2019s essentially eased this horse down as best he could.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think the fact that he got off the horse as quickly as he did afterwards, at that stage he realised.<\/p>\n

\u2018There is a serious problem here and I would very much want people to kind of think about all of those aspects of riding a horse. It\u2019s literally not as easy as it looks and it is very difficult to know exactly what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n

\u2018Sometimes when you\u2019re riding in a race you might feel that the horse feels a little bit uncollected, a little bit unusual but that can be so many different things and it might actually even be the jockey.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"\"\t<\/div>
Gold Dancer managed to win the race with a broken back (Racing TV)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Emma Slawinski, the chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, said: \u2018Year after year we see horses dying at Aintree for people\u2019s entertainment and a cheap bet. Sadly, Gold Dancer is the latest victim of this heartless spectacle, which flies in the face of animal welfare.<\/p>\n

\u2018The public and businesses should boycott the Aintree Festival, refuse to bet on the racing, and stop watching the ITV coverage and advertising which glosses over the animal cruelty.<\/p>\n

\u2018The government needs to act as the British Horseracing Authority and Jockey Club is prioritising gambling profits over the lives of the horses.\u2019<\/p>\n

Animal rights group Animal Aid issued a statement after Gold Dancer\u2019s death which read: \u2018The fact that the \u2018winner\u2019 of this race was dead minutes later proves that this so called \u201csport\u201d has no winners. Injuries and deaths such as these are common in racing, occurring on average every other day across the country.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s no accident \u2013 it\u2019s a predictable consequence of pushing horses beyond their physical limits and using a whip to bully them into running faster than they want to. Injury and death go hand in hand with racing, and that\u2019s why Animal Aid is\u00a0calling on the public to turn their backs on this \u201csport\u201d and boycott horse racing.\u2019<\/p>\n

An Aintree Racecourse statement read:\u00a0\u2018The winner of our second race of the day, Gold Dancer, was pulled up after the line and dismounted.<\/p>\n

\u2018He was immediately attended to by our expert veterinary team but sadly he could not be saved. Our heartfelt condolences are with his connections.\u2019<\/p>\n

Last year, Willy De Houelle and Celebre D\u2019Allen, died at Aintree.<\/p>\n

For more stories like this,\u00a0check our sport page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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