Former Cheltenham Festival winner Imperial Aura has failed to finish in his last five races and was pulled up in the Denman Chase at Newbury after breaking a blood vessel; trainer Kim Bailey: “This season has just been a nightmare with him.”
Monday 14 February 2022 11:25, UK
Kim Bailey is to give Imperial Aura the rest of the season off after the nine-year-old broke a blood vessel in the Denman Chase on Saturday.
A Cheltenham Festival winner in 2020, he won his first two races last season, which included a Grade Two at Ascot, but has failed to finish in five subsequent outings.
Having travelled and jumped well for much of Saturday’s race, Imperial Aura slowed considerably before the third-last fence and David Bass was quick to pull him up.
“He broke a blood vessel at Newbury and that is him done for the season now,” said Bailey.
“He was running a much better race but David said it happened going into the fence, that is why he jumped the fence then pulled him straight up.
F1’s crunch meeting over Abu Dhabi fallout: What’s going on?
Papers: Tielemans looking likely to leave Leicester
Trippier suffers broken metatarsal
Transfer Centre LIVE! Ronaldo out, Kane in at Man Utd?
Rams win Super Bowl as late comeback stuns Bengals
Introducing the new-look grid for F1’s big change
Jealousy? Why Khan and Brook can’t stand each other
PL hits & misses: Fab Fabinho | Kamikaze Spurs | Magpies momentum
“This season has just been a nightmare with him. He burst a blood vessel (at Cheltenham last March) and he hadn’t done it since until Saturday.
“He is still a good horse and you could see that on Saturday. He hit the front and he was going very nicely then bang – it happened. We’ve got to get it right.
“I think we will give him a good summer out and give him a good MOT before we decide what to do next. The good thing is he is still in one piece.”