Hong Kong Star Gun Pit Retired
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Photo: Hong Kong Jockey Club/Cedric Lane
Gun Pit ran second behind Special Fighter in the 2016 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3
Hong Kong star Gun Pit (AUS) has been retired due to a bone chip in his left front fetlock, South China Morning Post reports.
Australian-bred Gun Pit, a 7-year-old son of Dubawi, holds a perfect record in seven starts on Sha Tin's all-weather track, but last year failed to put in a winning run.
Trainer Caspar Fownes was pointing the bay gelding to the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 (G1), a race in which Gun Pit finished second in 2016, with an eye on a Dubai World Cup (G1) return. Gun Pit finished 12th in the Dubai World Cup last year.
"It is sad, because he had a lot more to offer—he really had a lot of heart and he was a lovely horse with a beautiful temperament. We will certainly miss him around the stable," Fownes told South China Morning Post reporter Michael Cox. "He was such an exciting horse on a true dirt surface and Dubai and Japan never gave him a chance to show us what he could really do.
"His left front joint just gave him too much trouble, so we made the decision to get the bone chip removed, and find him a nice home. The horse's owner Eddie Cheng Chung-wah is a great friend of mine and we had a lot of fun with this horse."
Gun Pit retires with an 8-3-1 record from 28 starts. He was bred by Mr. A. Smeaton out of the Ali-Royal mare Magic Tori, and sold to Michael Stedman Bloodstock for $205,000 (U.S. funds) at the 2012 New Zealand Bloodstock ready to run sale when consigned by Lyndhurst Farm. He was a $69,518 purchase by M. Treweek from the Eliza Park consignment to the 2012 Inglis Premiere yearling sale.