Hunt Ball

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dressedkez

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Hear he has been supplemented for Doncaster Sales - we are having a whip round here - sure he would make a grand novice riders horse for pointing! Though, it is also family lore that our own pointer finished ahead of him at Buckfastleigh about 5 years ago.....Shame though (a bit like Kauto - well nothing like Kauto really) but a too public break-up is similar and very sad for what was a great racing story.
 
It is a real shame but fair enough, it is Burke's reputation that could suffer at the end of the day with all the various stunts that have been pulled. The horse had a fantastic season the one before last, a real fairy tale story, hopefully he will carry on being a good Saturday horse,would also be nice if he went back to his present yard. :)
 
Thought the same, it was a great story while it lasted and a shame that's it's ended this way. Be interesting to see what he makes at the sales and if he's ever the same horse again.
 
We can only speculate what happened between owner and trainer but I must admit I was very surprised Hunt Ball was being put up for sale. He was a good horse the season before last but unfortunately is now in the grip of the handicapper so will be very difficult to place. Whether he can improve a few lbs with a top trainer is anyones guess. I am sorry though that its come to this.
 
I'll take him! I love that horse. I'm not unduly surprised at his departure from the yard though am surprised at him being sold.

Pity about yet another public falling out.
 
I must guiltily confess that the cynical side of me thought this a great publicity stunt for the horse selling. Without the headlines he would just be another middle aged high class handicapper at Doncaster, as the limelight has faded a bit for him this year. Sorry!!
 
Fingers crossed he gets a nice buyer who will treat him like a racehorse and not the circus act publicity stunt his current owner seems to think he is!!
 
rachaels91 said:
Fingers crossed he gets a nice buyer who will treat him like a racehorse and not the circus act publicity stunt his current owner seems to think he is!!
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I agree. I couldnt believe it when i saw they had painted that green Paddy Power advert on him at cheltenham
 
I think it was done as part of a fund raising thing with PP for the local air ambulance. PP gave £4k to advertise on Hunt Balls bottom, or something along those lines.
Its weird how neither owner or trainer thought it might just be sensible to check this was allowed before they did it, however good their intentions. Common sense I would have thought.
 
When I worked in a racing yard "Please remove your horse" shortly followed by "horse goes to sales" usually had something to do with unpaid training fees.
 
I do feel bad for Burke and awful for his lad/lass though I don't think Burke could handle it any longer, although Knott can be a great sport he does take it too far at times. I'd like to see him go to a more sensible owner and back to Burke's however like someone else said he's too far up in the handicap now so he'd need a real good trainer.

Shame really but the most important thing is the horse goes to a good home, Knott had better make sure of that.
 
He certainly would have attracted a large crowd in the sales ring!!

Its understandable why someone in the US would want him, because the quality of jumps horses are lesser than the UK he should win all the big grade 1 races over there whereas he couldn't here!
 
I am really sad about this outcome and I hope Knott realises what an idiot he's been. Such a shame he couldn't have stayed in this country.

But the main thing is that he's well cared for and is happy for the rest of his days and I don't think we've any reason to think he won't be.
 
No, Daffodil, I don't think we need fear for him with Jonathan Sheppard, although I agree it would have been nice if he could have stayed on this side of the Atlantic. On the plus side he is probably a big fish in a smaller bond in the US, whereas here he was in no-man's land a bit on his handicap mark (as another poster mentioned), and a touch below grade 1 class.
 
Fab news, tho it's a shame they couldn't send him back to Keiran Burke. The horse was a big star in a smallish yard, maybe he's one of those that needs that.

Anyway, I wish him well and would love to see him back to form!
 
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