Adagio, one of the leading fancies for Saturday's Cesarewitch at Newmarket, died of a heart attack on the gallops on Thursday morning.
The five-year-old had been the subject of a huge gamble in recent weeks with his price coming in from 25-1 into 6-1 second favourite. The horse was trained by David Pipe and was due to have been ridden by Luke Morris, who rode the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Alpinista last Sunday.
Pipe tweeted this morning: "It is with enormous sadness I have to report that Adagio has suffered a fatal heart attack on the gallops this morning. His owners and everyone at Pond House are beyond heartbroken." #Adagio #FlyHigh
Adagio was a talented dual purpose horse having won on the Flat in France before being purchased by Bryan Drew and Caroline Tisdall to be campaigned in juvenile hurdles. He won the Grade One Finale Junior Hurdle at Chepstow before coming second in the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 2021.
Last season he was thought good enough to run in the Champion Hurdle where he finished eighth to Honeysuckle, beaten just nine lengths. The Cesarewitch is a race that the Pipe stable often targets with one horse. David's father Martin won it twice with Miss Fara in 2002 and Heros Fatal in 2000. Adagaio had a handicap mark of 87 on the Flat compared to a lofty 152 over hurdles.
It is a race dominated recently by jumps trainers with just one Flat trainer, Roger Charlton, winning it in the past eight winners with Withhold. Nicky Henderson, Alan King, Willie Mullins and Philip Hobbs have all won it. Jumps trainers have many of the leading fancies again this time.
The final declarations for the Cesarewitch are made later today and Aidan O'Brien's Waterville is currently the ante-post favourite for the race.
