The top-class Gareth van Zyl-trained 4yo Flag Man has sadly succumbed to a catastrophic bout of colic after an operation to remove a chip from a fetlock joint.
The son of Flying The Flag was in post-operative care at Summerveld Equine Hospital when he suffered the colic, and the terrible decision had to be made to euthanize him.
The Gr1 Daily News 2000 runner-up and Hollywoodbets Durban July fourth-placed Flag Man (126) was recently scratched from the WSB Gr1 Cape Town Met after a decision was made to remove a chip from a fetlock joint. He did not run this season.
Flag Man (Serino Moodley in blue) slugs it out with Green With Envy in the 2024 Gr1 Daily News 2000 (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Speaking to the Sporting Post on Friday on behalf of the Gareth van Zyl team, Gavin van Zyl said that they were ‘absolutely devastated’ at the loss of a horse that had only shown the tip of the iceberg of his enormous potential.
“What a fabulous horse with so much potential. This is a devastating loss to not only his loyal and staunch owners Larry Nestadt, Reon Barnard, Gary Player and Dave Maclean, but to KZN racing and breeding. It’s an operation that he could have come back from. He had the best of veterinary care but there was nothing that could be done to save him. He will be tough to replace for all those privileged to have been involved with him. Flag Man has left us way too soon,” added an emotional Gavin van Zyl.
Happier days – Serino Moodley and Gavin van Zyl after a Flag Man win (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Breeder Peter Blyth of Clifton Stud told the Sporting Post that the news was ‘absolutely shattering’.
“He was a special individual from the moment he first saw the light of day. A rags-to-riches fairytale that ended far too suddenly. Clifton Stud extends sympathies to his owners and to the Van Zyl team. Horses of this calibre don’t cross our paths every day,” added the veteran breeder.
Former KZN champion Garth Puller originally trained Flag Man for lifelong equestrian friends Jeff and Iolanda Steadman, and said that this kind of tragedy was a reality and sadly befell racehorses, ‘especially the good ones’.
“I feel sorry for the owners. He had a helluva stride and a very fluent action – he was just a very special horse. And was one of the top horses in the country based on his 3yo form. He had to be gelded as he was naughty in the pens. We never saw the best of him. No question of that,” added Garth.
Gregg Clarke’s Ethanicity Research team speculated prior to the 2024 Hollywoodbets Durban July that the progressive son of Galileo sire Flying The Flag out of the Mark Of Esteem mare Irresistable Chris stood on the cusp of history for his sire, dam, trainer and owners and the province of Kwazulu-Natal, who had not celebrated a KZN bred & trainer Durban July winner for a very long time.
Clarke wrote that it was a particularly special moment for his breeders Jenny and Peter Blyth of Clifton Stud who have already, perhaps prophetically, savoured July victory with another ‘Flag’ horse, Classic Flag in 1998 and it was a first opportunity for their seasoned Stud Manager Christine Quinn who fondly remembered the sweet little chestnut with his Daddy’s looks.
Clarke said that he was extremely fond of the bloodline quality of Flying The Flag and confessed to having been ‘irretrievably hooked’ on the cross with the now deceased broodmare when he studied the pedigree after first meeting Flag Man as a weanling.
He fondly referred to Flag Man as ‘KZN’s Charles Dickens’ when he wrote on the Ethanicity Research Facebook forum on Sunday, 26 May 2024.
We will never know.
Rest in peace champ – you made many people very proud.
