Anaesthetic suppresses normal function, and horses are not made to lie down for prolonged periods. Neither are they made for deep sleep. They are creatures of flight and their first instinct when something concerns them is to run.
And of course waking up in a strange environment, feeling groggy and a bit sore, a horse will worry. Or worse still, panic. The recovery room is therefore heavily padded, just in case a horse begins to thrash out.
Such was the case with the legendary American filly Ruffian, who, having been successfully operated on after breaking down in her famous match race with Foolish Pleasure (her only defeat), awoke from her anaesthesia in a frenzy, injuring herself so severely that she had to be euthanised.
It is rare, said Dr Anderson, for a high-class horse to react in such a way. He has found that the better the horse, the more likely they are to stay calm; they have an internal strength, an intelligence that better prepares them for the unknown.
‘Champions,’ he explains, ‘are strong and tough. And they know they are special; they have that arrogance, a swagger, a confidence.’
Prince Of Penzance is one such horse. From him there was no panic, no kicking out. He rose slowly, gingerly, looking after himself. Just four hours after he felt those first worrying twinges of pain he was in recovery, being closely monitored.
It was not long afterwards that Prince Of Penzance gave hospital staff some cause for concern. He did not look happy; he was pawing at the ground.
And so they rushed to his side. But this tough, hardy thoroughbred was not in pain. He was hungry!
This is one of the very best signs that a horse has come through an operation well. With the intestines needing time to recover, the patient is not fed for at least twenty-four hours, and the first offering of a couple of handfuls of chaff is either rejected or gratefully received. When it is the latter, the horse is on his way to recovery. When he is ready for a snack, says Dr Anderson, you know he is going well.
He is, by no means, out of the woods. This particular type of surgery is demanding on the equine body. After an operation for bone chips a horse can lose around five, maybe ten kilograms. After a procedure to relieve colic they can shed up to fifty kilograms, around ten percent of their entire body weight.
Full recovery is a slow process, the horse regaining weight at the rate of around one kilogram a day. It takes three months for the horse to regain sufficient strength to be ridden, and once a horse suffers from a severe colic attack they are at risk of recurrence.
The threat is at its highest within the first three months, and decreases a little more after a year, all the more so after three years.
Darren Weir knows all about this, for in 2002, the year before she finished second in the first of Makybe Diva’s three historic Melbourne Cup victories, his gallant mare She’s Archie had twice been struck.
And it was the team at Ballarat who saved her life also, Dr Anderson performing both procedures. ‘We joke with Darren that we should operate on all his Melbourne Cup aspirants!’
Prince Of Penzance remained at the equine clinic for a week, followed by three weeks in a box, another three in a small yard and six in his paddock.
He recovered well, though it was not completely smooth sailing, with the incision site contracting an infection and a course of antibiotics required. And then, despite Laura Dixon’s and Darren Weir’s best efforts in choosing just the right companion for Prince Of Penzance, his paddock mate kicked him and he ended up with a massive haematoma … ‘a basketball on his hind leg’.
Fortunately, another week in the box saw Prince Of Penzance fully recovered from that setback, and the rest of his spell was bother-free. Nobody could have foreseen that just nine months later the horse would run the race of his life.
Chapter Six
The Spring
Seldom have owners been as happy to run eighth as were the Prince Of Penzance group upon his return to racing in the Memsie Stakes at Caulfield on Saturday, 29 August 2015.
It had been just over nine months since he last raced, eight since his third operation for bone chips and seven since his life-threatening colic attack.
Getting back to the races was quite the achievement in itself. Running well, many felt, would be a miracle. Especially as it was his first crack at Group One company.
For the first time in his career Prince Of Penzance was triple figure odds, 100–1. Settling back from a wide gate, he hooked out at the 600 metres and started to make up ground. He didn’t pick up all of his well-credentialled rivals, but enough of them. A most encouraging effort, finishing ahead of such outstanding gallopers as Happy Trails, Dandino and Fawkner, beaten only 2 1/4 lengths, recording the second fastest final 400 metres.
‘Prince Of Penzance has run out of his skin,’ said race caller Greg Miles.
Michelle Payne was delighted, telling owners that, ‘He began really nicely, and just came back and settled beautifully. The speed was nice and genuine for the first half and they steadied mid-race, which gave him the chance to tack on. He got a lovely cart up behind Weary, which took us right into the straight.
‘He just wanted to lay in a fraction when I first went with him, so I pulled the stick in the left hand. He straightened up beautifully and was really good to the line and really good through the line. It was a perfect first up run.’
His owners were relieved and happy, slapping each other on the back. Pam and David Wilson had a wedding to go to but had sat out in their car to listen, enjoying updates from Michael. They were happy from afar.
Sixty-two kilograms made Prince Of Penzance’s second up task in the Gold Nugget at Ballarat a tough one, but he was a sound fifth carrying eight kilograms more than the winner, Freshwater Storm.
‘It looked a strange decision at the time to run a Melbourne Cup contender at Ballarat,’ said part-owner John Richards.
The metropolitan tracks at the time, he explained, were being prepared firm, too hard for Prince Of Penzance and his troublesome fetlocks. Michelle Payne phoned city track curators to see if the courses were to be watered … they were not.
‘We did not want to expend the horse and the Ballarat track was in good order, so it’s there we went.’
It is not every day that a Ballarat race features in a story in the Gold Coast Bulletin but this one did, touted as a bit of a match race. Owner Stephen Wilson works for the Gold Coast Suns and the team’s captain Gary Ablett had Baron Archer in the same race. While neither horse saluted, Stephen won bragging rights, his horse fifth, Gary Ablett’s seventh.
The Group Three JRA Cup at Moonee Valley was next, and after covering ground behind all the way winner Escado he was fifth less than two lengths away.
‘I was really happy with the Prince’s performance today,’ Michelle Payne reported. ‘He got into a nice position and travelled well. I was happy with how he raced, his racing manners. He put in a nice first 600 metres and then the speed really went on and got him off the bit, but he was really strong through the line. I am really happy with how he is progressing; he is right where you want him at this stage.’
A firm track — going that Prince Of Penzance had never relished — hindered his chances in the Group Two Herbert Power Stakes. He settled last from a wide draw and was never a threat, Michelle reporting that she was not happy with his action.
The stable form analyst Peter Ellis was far from despondent, noting that it was just too hard to run on from so far back and yet the horse had run his last 1000 metres in good time … ‘That told me that he was on song.’
Prince Of Penzance pulled up well and was on track for a second Moonee Valley Cup. An ideal barrier (four), the softer Strathayr surface he had always liked. The blinkers were back on.
But he was racing