A horse died after suffering a fatal injury during Wednesday’s Welsh Grand National at Chepstow racecourse.
Trainer Paul Nicholls said that Complete Unknown died after finishing fifth in the race. Only five of the 20 runners actually completed the race in wet and windy conditions.
Seven-year-old Complete Unknown, ridden by Harry Cobden, was among the top five favourites to win, starting at 9/1. The news was a sad postscript to the biggest event in the Welsh racing calendar. Nicholls, one of the best trainers in the sport, said in a statement: “So sad to report that we lost Complete Unknown today at Chepstow Racecourse after a catastrophic injury.”
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Complete Unknown was still in contention to win the race late on but hit the 20th of 23 fences when in third, immediately falling back in the race order and worryingly slowing down before just about completing the event. The race was eventually won by 9/2 joint favourite Nassalam in front of thousands of race fans at Chepstow, who huddled in the stands amid the awful weather conditions that swept through the country.
Owned by John and Yvonne Stone, Nassalam joined Amateur midway down the back and led those left standing into the home straight for the final five fences, with Sam Iwilldoit and Complete Unknown in hot pursuit. The incident with Complete Unknown knocked him out of contention and although Iwilldoit gamely gave chase, Nassalam was not for catching as he extended clear up the Chepstow straight.
He was 15 lengths to the good jumping two out and extended that advantage to 34 lengths.
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