It's the most wonderful time of the year, and leading up to the big day we've brought together members of the Naps League community to write about their favourite racing memory of 2018. Thank you to everyone who has gotten involved, and stay tuned for more on the countdown to Christmas. First up, Sam has put together this great piece about the miracle horse, Edwulf.
Edwulf by Samantha Martin
Miracle: an extraordinary and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore attributed to a divine agency.
Christmas is a time of miracles, they say, so I had to write about Edwulf. Edwulf won the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown in February 2018 for trainer Joseph O'Brien and owner J P McManus. That wasn't the miracle though- it was what happened eleven months before that was.
The incident that almost ended Edwulf's life happened in and after the J T McNamara Amateur Riders' Novices' Chase. Edwulf was roughly a 5/1 shot and was partnered by Derek O'Connor. Throughout the race, he was held up in the rear and made headway before four out and moved into second. At two out, he pecked on landing but stayed on his feet and battled on. Then, at the last, he jumped awkwardly and went wrong. O'Connor pulled him up quickly and jumped off.
The horse was showing lots of signs of distress and then he collapsed onto his side. Screens went up for privacy. At first, it was suspected that he had suffered internal bleeding similar to that that put an end to Many Clouds' life. Vets monitored his heart- it was extremely chaotic. Then he began to have fits, which was probably caused by starvation of oxygen to his brain. Vets sedated him and his heart rate went back to normal and the fits stopped. He was able to move his limbs, but he made no attempt to stand. Over the next couple of minutes, Edwulf became less and less responsive. Racecourse staff needed him to be moved so they could run the last race of the day so, with care, he was moved off the main part of the course. The vets waited, hoping that he would get up and pull through. From the stands, owner J P McManus was looking on at proceedings. "Do what you can boys, do your best." He instructed the vets. After forty minutes, a wobbly Edwulf got up and walked into the horse ambulance.
Edwulf was taken to Three Counties Equine Hospital, accompanied by a police escort. He got to the hospital at about half past seven and he was showing signs of blindness but there was no visible damage to his eyes. Luckily and miracluously, by the morning, it had all resolved. Amazingly, on Saturday morning, the gelding seemed no worse for wear and was cavorting around his field at the equine hospital!
This was a very unusual thing to happen and, for a horse to survive and be no worse for wear afterwards, was remarkable. Liam Kearns, head vet at Cheltenham, said afterwards, "To have a horse down in that situation, it was way out of the ordinary. I have never known anything like it. I have never known a situation whereby a horse has recovered from being on his side for so long."
His owner J P McManus publicly thanked the veterinary staff at the trophy presentation after Defi Du Seuil's success in the Triumph Hurdle on the Friday of the meeting. "When you have a successful outcome, it is fantastic." His young trainer, Joseph O'Brien, also expressed his delight that his horse had survived, "I thought we had lost him. I can't describe the feeling of getting him back."
This son of Kayf Tara is still going strong today. He was a thirty-three to one to land the Irish Gold Cup, after pulling up on his reappearance in December 2017, and travelled like the best horse for most of the way. One could argue that he was lucky to win the race as the favourite for the race fell at the last when cruising but, judging from the way he battled on, he would've won anyway. After that, he took his chance in the Gold Cup. He was a twenty to one shot roughly and finished a creditable eighth. Considering what he went through at the same meeting the previous year, that was a huge achievement. He gave jockey Derek O'Connor one of his biggest days in racing and, recently, O'Connor won ride of the year for his masterful ride aboard this horse.
He didn't produce such a brilliant run on his comeback run in December 2018 and was well-beaten behind Min in the John Durkan Memorial Chase. I'm sure if he never wins a race again connections will be grateful for the miracle that occurred and that he survived what happened on that March afternoon.
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