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2014 Melbourne Cup favourite Admire Rakti finished a long last. He looked like a contender early, before his jockey eased him right out of the race to finish last at a slow walk.
Tragically, Admire Rakti collapsed in his stalls, and passed away, despite the best efforts of vets that surrounded him.
The entourage that travelled with him, from his native Japan, were devastated after the collapse of the horse.
Melbourne Cup 2014: Who won, who came last
The Japanese horse passed away naturally, with the reasons for his death to be investigated via an autopsy.
Racing Victoria steward Terry Bailey confirmed with the Seven Network that the poor performance would have necessitated a vet for the pre-race favourite anyway, but the shock after moving to the stalls after the race took its toll on the Japanese-trained horse.
He also gave no indication of any obvious health concerns from the horse before or after the race until the stallion collapsed in his stall after the race.
After sitting up on the pace, Admire Rakti was the first horse beaten and officially finished last.
As the horse returned to his stalls, he collapsed. Vets were called over and a screen was placed over his stall.
Admire Rakti had crowds surrounding it in the stalls, with many of the people trying to touch the horse before the managed to place a green tarpaulin over the body of the horse.
Admire Rakti won the Caulfield Cup last month and won over $5.1 million in prizemoney in his career.
The vets have since confirmed that the stayer collapsed and died from a heart attack or internal bleed. The original cause will be unknown until the autopsy.
“Obviously there will have to be an autopsy done and the vets are with it now,” chief steward Terry Bailey said.
“He collapsed while they were unsaddling him back at the stalls.
“The autopsy will tell the story. It will be done at Werribee. That’s the normal procedure for any horse. We’ll see what that brings up and whether that’s natural causes.”
The death follows Verema being euthanised after last year’s race, and also reports that fellow 2014 runner Araldo could be in trouble following a serious leg injury after he hit a fence after the race.
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