Flow forced into retirement
Strong Flow, trained by Paul Nicholls, a scintillating winner of the 2003 Hennessy Gold Cup, has been retired after it was discovered he was still feeling the effects of an old injury.
The eight-year-old, owned by Barry Marshall, spent over a year on the sidelines after cracking a bone in his near-fore knee during victory in the 2003 Feltham Novices’ Chase.
He made three appearances this year and was being prepared for a winter campaign but was not satisfying his trainer, who sent him to a specialist to find out what the problem was.
“He came back in training in July but the more we did with him, the more he started to get sore,” Nicholls told the Racing Post.
“I wasn’t happy with him and we referred him to Newmarket vet Ian Wright, who had been looking after him, and collectively, along with Barry, we decided the best thing to do was retire him before we do any further damage.
“He’s going to a good home in Barry’s and he’ll be sound, but he just won’t stick training and it’s all related to the knee fracture.
“It was ultimately a career-ending mistake at Kempton with a circuit to go and it’s incredible he still won the Feltham after that.”
A winner of six of his 11 starts, Strong Flow’s finest hour was undoubtedly in the Hennessy, which he won as a novice by an emphatic 14 lengths.
Nicholls added:“Last season he was sound and he was sound for a month this season but when we stepped up his work he was in trouble.
“It’s such a shame as if he hadn’t had that injury, the world was at his feet. We were all looking at him as a future Gold Cup winner.
“It’s a sad decision, but the right decision.”
