3 minute read

Connections of Eldar Eldarov have issued an upbeat statement regarding the five-year-old’s recovery, although it is unlikely the St Leger winner will race again.

Trained by Roger Varian, Eldar Eldarov sustained a neck fracture after rearing up in the stalls ahead of Saturday's Dubai Gold Cup at Meydan. He was immediately transferred to a local equine hospital and owner Sheikh Khalid flew two specialist vets over from America to give the multiple Group 1 winner the best chance of recovery.

Successful in the 2022 St Leger at Doncaster, Eldar Eldarov enjoyed mixed fortunes last season but returned to his brilliant best when beating Kyprios comfortably in the Irish equivalent.

"He had an operation on Tuesday to stabilise a fracture in his neck, initially when he was in that post-operative phase, he had a rough time of things but he's making progress now," said Chris Wall, Shaikh Khalid's racing manager.

"It will be small steps, he's got a long way to go but the future is looking brighter than it did 48 hours ago.

"He's in good hands in the equine hospital in Dubai, they've done a very good job so far.

"We flew in two vets from America who said they thought they'd be able to do something for him and they have.

"We are thankful and grateful to them, and to Shaikh Khalid for insisting that we left no stone unturned to try to give the horse a future.

"He still has quite a long way to go, he's by no means in the clear yet, but the progress report this morning (Wednesday) was positive and he's moving in the right direction.

"I think we can safely say he won't be returning to racing, it's now a question of whether he can do a stud job or whether he just has a happy retirement somewhere.

"We'll have to see, that all depends on how his recovery goes and it's a bit early to say for certain."