Ex-Royal Ascot winner, who belonged to Aidan O’Brien in the past, rescued in US from ‘cold mud pen waiting to die’
An ex-Aidan O’Brien-trained Royal Ascot winner has been rescued after being discovered in an emaciated state on a farm in the US.
The 12-year-old War Envoy raced 12 times for the Ballydoyle trainer when owned by the Coolmore partners and Joseph Allen, winning the Britannia Stakes at Ascot in 2015. He ran his last race for the stable later that year at the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, where he finished last in the Dirt Mile at Keeneland.
He stayed in the US where he subsequently raced for Wesley Ward before being sold at auction in 2016 for £120,000, moving to trainers Shelbe Ruis, Craig Dollase and finally Mick Ruis, for whom he ran his last race for Ruis Racing at Santa Anita in 2017.
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Now seven years later he has been found on a farm in Kentucky in a poor physical condition and taken into care.
War Envoy, who appears to have had a stallion career after racing, is now safe in the hands of the Kentucky Humane Society Equine CARE [Connect, Assist, Rescue, Educate] in Simpsonville, a charity dedicated to helping horses in crisis and transition.
The horses the charity has taken in are often eventually able to have new careers and homes, but that time could be some way off for War Envoy.
A post on Facebook, appealing for donations , said: “How a horse can go from a Breeders’ Cup entry, flying around from the US to Ireland and England and back several times and receiving the best of care…to this situation starving in a cold mud pen waiting to die, will never cease to be tragic and baffling.
“It’s not the breed or the industry. Bad people do bad things. It’s going to be a long road and require a lot of care but you’re safe, buddy.”
He was one of ten horses that were part of the rescue who would become “somebody to us now”.
“For now their actual care is our priority, and we still have a lot of mud to remove, legs to wash and medicate, and 4 are stallions so those are all being kept separately.
“We didn’t even know ANY of them were stallions when we picked them up because they are so hungry and thin their testicles were all tucked up beyond sight and only found when palpated by the vet.
“It may be a long road ahead but they are ALL worth it.”
The charity, which has so far raised £4,700 for War Envoy, explained that it had made a deliberate decision not to post the name of the horse, but he was subsequently identified by horrified racing fans on social media.
Kentucky Humane Society Equine Care said: “The reason we didn’t post his name is because we know some may look up connections and send hate mail or start bashing people who likely have NO IDEA this horse ended up like this and would have likely done anything to prevent it, had they known.
“He’s probably multiple hands removed from the folks who last had him at a track. This is a bad-people problem in MANY breeds and disciplines. This horse happened to be much more trackable than the average horse or some emaciated unknown mixed breed horse caught on a mine site. Either way, they ALL deserve better."
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