Cheltenham Festival hero Langer Dan retired after ‘unexplainable coronary heart drawback’ emerges
Langer Dan famously came to life at the Cheltenham Festival in March, winning the Coral Cup in 2021 and 2022 – but he has now been forced to retire after an issue emerged
Cheltenham Festival fave Langer Dan has retired due to ‘an unexplainable heart problem’.
The horse, trained by Dan Skelton, was a punter’s dream, always pulling saving his best form for Cheltenham in March.
He won two Coral Cups despite a run of poor form and was gunning for a third Festival trophy in the Stayers’ Hurdle when he had to withdraw last minute. Skelton, the season’s leading jumps trainer, revealed on the morning of the big race that Langer Dan had a “slightly dirty nose”.
“I’ve made him a non-runner,” Skelton declared. “As you can see there is a bit of mucus in his trachea wash which is a test of his airway to see if there is any infection or mucus in the airway.
“Unfortunately there is too much and we are going to have to not run today. I’ve taken him out. It’s very disappointing that we can’t go there. He’s been a horse that’s turned up every year since he was four years old.
“I’m absolutely gutted for Colm [Donlon], who owns him. We always trust him to come alive this time of year and unfortunately he doesn’t get to go and perform today.”
Skelton had his eyes on next week’s Aintree Hurdle as a comeback stage for Langer Dan, where he could’ve squared off with the mighty Constitution Hill.
The trainer told Mirror Racing: “Langer Dan has been retired. He had a dirty nose the week of Cheltenham and we couldn’t run him in the Stayers’ Hurdle.
“That didn’t ever clear up so we thought we needed to give him some stronger antibiotics. We sent him to the vets to get that done and they rang us immediately and said they had taken a scan of his chest and his heart is not working as efficiently as it should.
“There was no atrial fibrillation or anything like that. It was just a different problem. They don’t know how it’s happened, why it’s happened and there was no way of it getting stopped.
“He bit the bullet,” he added, “It’s a bit of a shock but you don’t mess around with these things. He’s been retired immediately. He has come home to live with Amber who rode him out everyday and we will look after him.”
Confirming the downer, an Instagram post from Donlon’s Squeaky Racing read loud and clear about what looked like simple respiratory woes turning out to be “an intrinsic and unexplainable heart problem; therefore Langer Dan has been retired with immediate effect.
“Given this underlying condition we are immensely thankful for the wonderful days we have had with him – especially each Spring! He’s been nothing short of stellar for us: 5 Cheltenham Festivals, 2 Coral Cups and blimey, even snagging an Imperial Cup.
“The cheeky chap,” they concluded, “He never really cared what Dan or I thought or wanted to do. He did it all on his own terms.”
“Langer Dan is now back home safe and comfortable, in need of a quiet life, and we will look after him like the little legend he is! He will be missed on the racetrack by many and we will cherish the many memorable days.”
