Three-time Cheltenham Festival winner Sire Du Berlais suffers fatal injury at Punchestown Festival
Sire Du Berlais won six times in a 36-race career and accumulated close to €1,000,000 in prize money in a stellar career on the track.
There was a very sad postscript to the Ladbrokes Champion Stayers Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival as three-time Cheltenham Festival winner Sire Du Berlais was fatally injured.
Sire Du Berlais won six times in a 36-race career and accumulated close to €1,000,000 in prize money in a stellar career on the track.
After finishing a gallant fifth place in Stayers' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, the 12-year-old took his chance at the Punchestown Festival today.
But he was pushed along from early on by Mark Walsh and was trailing when pulled up injured three hurdles from the finish.
Unfortunately for his owner, JP McManus, and his connections, the gelding suffered a fatal injury.
Sire Du Berlais won three times at the Cheltenham Festival, including when springing a 33/1 surprise in the 2023 Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle.
The son of Poliglote followed up his Cheltenham success last year by winning at the Aintree Grand National and finishing a close third at the Punchestown Festival.
Following his victory at Aintree last season, his trainer Gordon Elliott said, "He has been the horse of a lifetime and we’re lucky to have him."
The race was won by another Elliott runner Teahupoo who cemented his position at the top of the staying hurdling tree with a dominant display.
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