Veteran gelding Second Effort has been put down after his fracturing a leg during trackwork at Caulfield on Saturday morning.
Second Effort recorded his maiden win at Group level with a strong win in the 2012 P.B. Lawrence Stakes. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Second Effort was taking part in some light cantering at Caulfield on Saturday, just over a week after he returned to racing at Moonee Valley, when he fractured his hind leg and he was put down after vets ruled that surgery to fix the problem would be impossible.
“We thought about operating and trying to save him but the vet said it wouldn’t work, so we had to have him put down,” trainer Clinton McDonald told TVN.
“He was just cantering around under no pressure and he fractured a hind leg.
“Just one of those things.”
Second Effort made his racing debut in March of 2010 with a second place finish at Terang and recorded his first race win at Warrnambool on May 4 that year; starting an impressive record at the track and on rain affected surfaces.
The Mossman gelding work through the grades in 2011 and recorded another win on a slow track at Warrnambool before scoring three dominant wins on rain affected surfaces in the New Litho Handicap (1200m), the Le Pine Funerals Cup (1200m) and the Cafetto Sprint (1200m) before making his debut at Group level in the Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield.
Second Effort took out the Wangoom Handicap (1200m) at the start of his winter campaign and scored his maiden win at Group level in the Group 2 P.B. Lawrence Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on August 18 and was far from disgraced when third behind Group 1 winners Sincero and Happy Trails in the Group 2 Memsie Stakes (1400m).
The tough gelding failed to fire in both the Group 2 Challenge Stakes (1000m) and Group 3 Sebring Stakes (1200m) during the 2013 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival, but returned to his best form in Warrnambool to take out the Wagoom Handicap for the second year in a row.
After a brief freshen up Second Effort returned to the races with a third place finish in the Listed John Monash Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield on July 13 and scored the final win of his career in the Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on July 27 last year.
Second Effort finished his 2013 Spring Racing Carnival with poor efforts on firm tracks in the Group 3 Moonga Stakes (1400m) and Group 2 Crystal Mile (1600m), but was on track for another tilt at the Wangoom Handicap after starting his preparation with a sixth place finish in the 55 Second Handicap (955m) at Moonee Valley on March 21.
Second Effort finished his racing career with 11 wins from 36 starts, $680,703 in prizemoney and a most impressive nine wins from 11 starts on wet tracks.
