On the evening of August 5th earlier this year, I received a telephone call from The Horse Hospital asking if our racehorse Xaarphonic was insured. He was in there as a result of a severe colic attack suffered after he’d raced at Ascot the day before. The writing was on the wall for the son of Xaar, and the Grim Reaper was bearing down rather ominously on him. The vets gave him little chance of survival such was his perilous state, and they were basically persuing the insurers asking for permission to humanely put him down.
But Xaarphonic wasn’t insured, and the decision was left entirely to them. The owners were notified and advised that in all probability, they would wake up in the morning with one horse less to pay training fees for. The vets meanwhile, took him right down to the wire, giving him every possible chance of recovery, and slowly, painstakingly slowly, he began to show signs of recovery. The vets and their staff worked through the night keeping up the fluids to him, and keeping vigil. One of them who is of the faith, even prayed for him…
And then the miracle happened. Xaarphonic started to turn the corner and show some true grit. He’s always been a single minded, stroppy type, and if ever there was a time to show his beligerence, then this was it. And he did. He recovered well enough to get back to the races, and under the watchful eye of trainer Ken WIlliamson, he raced three more times coming up short of a win, but nevertheless back racing.
An opportunity came up to send him to the Great Southern area, and stationed at Albany with his new trainer Kevin McAuley and obviously relishing being trained along the beach, he came out and showed his tough, fighting qualiities when he won at his third start down there-appropriately on Boxing Day, and then backed up with another win at Narrogin over 1700m early in the new year.
Whilst Xaarphonic’s racetrack record of four wins from 23 starts could never have him described as a Champion, he’s certainly proved to us all that he’s a tough as nails horse with a definitive will to win. He’s a survivor who’s been down for the count-but got up again. And the way he’s won his last two starts says that there could very well be more victories in store for him…
Peter Morley