Cheltenham Gold Cup runner Sounds Russian euthanised after injury complications
The ten-year-old Ruth Jefferson-trained gelding had struggled with injury after he was brought down in the 2023 Gold Cup won by Galopin Des Champs
Popular staying chaser Sounds Russian, who climbed the ranks to contest the Cheltenham Gold Cup, has died. The ten-year-old became a star for Yorkshire trainer Ruth Jefferson after she bought him unraced for £13,000 in 2018.
He started his career three years later over hurdles but switched to fences after three second placed runs and completed a hat-trick of victories which resulted in his handicap mark rising significantly.
By the time Sounds Russian lined up in the 2023 Gold Cup, after finishing a close second behind Ahoy Senor in the Cotswold Chase, his mark had increased from 111 to 161.
He was still in the hunt when he was brought down at the 17th fence by the fall of Ahoy Senor, sustaining injuries he was never able to fully recover from.
He was off the track for a year after undergoing surgery to remove 12 chips from a knee and his campaigning was restricted to hurdles when he returned.
Jefferson said: “Since the Gold Cup, apart from winning the novice hurdle in Perth, he’s been very injury-prone.
“He acquired quite a large injury and would never race again, but potentially could have done something at a very low level. However mentally, low level was not his thing.
“In the current climate where people don’t have a large volume of disposable income, he would have needed a very good rider who needed a horse that could do a lot.
“The maintenance of that and whether he had the ability to do a lot were very questionable so we opted to have him euthanised.”
Sounds Russian was the best horse Jefferson, whose late father Malcolm was a Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer, had trained since the retirement of Grade 1 winning chaser Waiting Patiently.
“He never ran a bumpers and was quite keen at home so we started him in two and a half mile hurdles but once he went chasing that was his game,” she said.
“Not many horses go through the handicap system from a low level and become really good horses. He was probably one of the few.
“It’s very hard to say what would have happened in the Gold Cup. He didn’t jump the fence before very well but he absolutely winged the fence where he got brought down.
“No one would have known. I didn’t go there expecting to win a Gold Cup but we did go there thinking he could outrun his odds.”
