FAN favourite racehorse Arcadian Sunrise has tragically been put down – just days after finishing third at Royal Ascot.
The ultra-consistent eight-year-old gelding had been suffering from a short illness, Sean Queally, the son of husband-and-wife and trainer-owner duo John and Miriam, confirmed.
Arcadian Sunrise, who had won seven of his 18 races, returned from Royal Ascot unwell and died on Thursday.
His sad death came just two days after he was third in last Tuesday's Ascot Stakes.
Arcadian Sunrise landed connections a £12,090 prize for finishing just a length-and-a-half behind 14-1 winner Coltrane in the Class 2 2m4f contest.
The horse was always popular with punters and was the star of John and Miriam's Dunvargan yard in Waterford, Ireland.
Sean told the Racing Post: "It's terrible. We didn't get to see how good he was and he was only starting to get going.
"He ran some race at Ascot and could have even been closer.
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"He barely ever finished out of the frame. He was always in the prize-money.
"That day at York [when he won the 2021 Sky Bet Handicap], he was so impressive. He was all guns blazing for the [upcoming] Galway Hurdle."
Arcadian Sunrise, who won on the flat and over jumps, won connections a total of £145,555 from his 18 races.
He was victorious four times over hurdles and finished out of the top three just twice.
On the flat he had two wins from eight races and came second or third a total of four times.
He had been in brilliant form this year, finishing fourth to Cleveland in last month's Chester Cup.
Arcadian Sunrise's exact cause of death is unknown and the devastated connections await the autopsy report.
Sean said: "He travelled home well, but once we put him in the stable he started rolling and sweating and just wasn't himself.
"We had to take him out and walk him around for about four hours. We thought it was colic but it wasn't that in the end.
"The vet didn't know himself, he thought it might have been travel sickness, but there was a problem with his bladder as he couldn't urinate, and we had to take him to Fethard that evening.
"He started lying down and we couldn't get him up so we had to put him in the box.
"They did a few tests on his heart and said he should be OK in the morning.
"But we got a call the next morning saying he had deteriorated overnight, followed by another call a short while later asking for permission to put him down."
Punters paid tribute to the horse online.
One said: "Absolutely gutted. Warrior."
While another wrote: "Horrendous news. Condolences to all connections."
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