Bravest horse in star stable calls it quits
Champion trainer Mark Purdon has trained faster and more talented horses than Smolda — but none braver.
The Inter Dominion hero has been retired after the wear and tear of six seasons racing at the highest level finally caught up on him over the weekend.
Purdon had been unhappy with the eight-year-old’s soundness since he came back into work and a scan has confirmed a tear in a tendon.
In a younger horse it would be a problem healed by time but for Smolda, whose old legs need hundred of kilometres of training in them to keep up with the young bucks, it was a sign the end had come.
“We could have put him aside and tried again but at his age, with the work load he needs to race, he would have re-injured it,” said Purdon.
“He has been a great horse, owned by top people, so they made the decision to retire him because he has nothing left to prove.”
Especially after this season, when Smolda turned back time and won over $1 million, highlighted by his Inter Dominion victory in Perth where he simply ran harder for longer than his younger, faster opponents.
On a track where he never looked entirely comfortable, it was a triumph of belligerence over brilliance.
He almost added another of pacing’s mega races with a narrow second to old foe Lennytheshark in the Miracle Mile and became the only horse to beat Lazarus and Lennytheshark in the same race when he crushed them in the Ballarat Cup.
“Those sort of races sum him up, he is just a great old warrior,” said Purdon.
“He was a wonderful young horse, with his Jewels win at three something pretty special.
“Then he had some issues in the middle of his career, with a virus and a burst blood vessel in his leg and most horses wouldn’t have come back after spending so long away from the track.
“But he really wanted to be there and had a great will to win.
“He isn’t the fastest or best horse I have trained but he would be one of the bravest.”
As epic as his 32-win career worth over $2.5m was, Smolda’s trophy haul could have been even greater, with only an early gallop costing him in the New Zealand Cup last season while he was also placed in a Victoria Cup, Auckland Cup and two Derbies.
“While it will be sad to see him leave the stable he will probably go back to Australia where the Kirkwoods, who part own him, will give him a lovely home for the rest of his life,” said Purdon. “And I’m thrilled he got to have the season he just has, so people will remember what a great horse he was.”