Melbourne Cup winner Subzero on sick list

Wednesday 17 July 2013, 1:06pm

The 1992 Melbourne Cup winner Subzero is under veterinary care because of weight loss and a reduced appetite.

The much-loved rising 25-year-old, who worked as clerk-of-the-course horse for 15 years after retiring from the racetrack, has been examined at the University of Melbourne Veterinary Clinic at Werribee.

Racing Victoria says clinical investigations have identified minor renal insufficiency.

Since retirement from clerk-of-the-course duties, Subzero, under the ownership Graham Salisbury, visits schools all around Victoria and even has his own line of merchandise.

Salisbury said the popular grey was in good spirits.

"Subzero's not going backwards, he's in good spirits and walking about," Salisbury said.

"He's a racing legend who has touched hearts of lots of people throughout his life."

Subzero was bought at the Magic Millions sales to be a sprinter but under the guidance of Hall of Fame trainer Lee Freedman he soon stamped himself as a promising stayer.

That potential was realised during an autumn campaign in 1992 with wins in the South Australian Derby and the Adelaide Cup.

Freedman gave Subzero what was then a traditional Melbourne Cup preparation with a sequence of weight-for-age runs and a Caulfield Cup start.

On a deteriorating track, Subzero defeated New Zealand stayers Veandercross and Castletown in the Melbourne Cup.

It turned out to be the last of his six wins and he was retired from racing after the 1994 Brisbane Cup with earnings of more than $2 million.

– AAP

Latest News

Prime Thoroughbreds - We have a Host of Leaders in our Team

Tuesday, 29 June 2021

Prime Thor­ough­bred’s cur­rent rac­ing team is putt­ing to­gether quite a re­cord. We have 22 hors­es that have raced in our team at pre­sent. Six­teen of th­ese are win­n­ers in­clud­ing the Stakes win­n­ing trio Ru­bisa­ki, Fituese and Xtreme­time with Miss Di­vine Em and Miss In Charge run­n­ing 4th in Stakes races. This sees a stakes win­n­er to win­n­er ra­tio of 18.75% with a stake’s per­formed to win­n­er ra­tio of 31.25%. Th­ese are ex­cep­tio­n­al fig­ures.   More »

Freedmans land maiden Group One win

Saturday, 27 February 2021

Un­der-rat­ed fil­ly For­bid­den Love has emerged as an au­tumn car­ni­val smokey with a bril­liant per­for­mance to win the Sur­round Stakes at Rand­wick.  More »

Capriccio completes Damian Lane treble

Saturday, 27 February 2021

In a big day for coun­try-trained hors­es, War­r­nam­bool fil­ly Capric­cio has tak­en out the In­glis Dash for Daniel Bow­man.  More »

More news headlines »