Leading equine behaviourist Malan du Toit was at the much debated L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate start at Kenilworth on Saturday and has rejected conspiracy theories, putting the various equipment issues down to ‘things that do go wrong’.
Writing on social media, Malan says that horses can lose shoes at any time – either on their way to the start or while ringing at the back of the stalls.
Malan with Anton Marcus and Mike de Kock – this was at the Vaal late in 2019
“That is why we have a farrier on course that can assist in a case like that. Bridles can break or come off at any time and that is why we have an extra set at the start. Incidents like this happen at every racecourse in SA and all over the world.”
He goes on to say that shortly after the horses arrived at the start the first horse lost a shoe and the farrier assisted.
“Then it happened to another horse while the first one lost another shoe! In the meantime the bridle of Do it Again broke and we had to fit the extra set. At the same time the bridle of Hawwaam came off and had to be refitted. There is absolutely no conspiracy here. All of us that deal with horses, no matter in what discipline, on a daily basis want to give them every possible chance to perform to their full potential and that is why we do everything in our power to make that possible. Why do we do that? Because we have a passion for horses and we love working with them,” he says.
He sums up by saying that the cold reality is that things can go wrong.
“I just watched the reply of the race and I must say Vardy won in a fascinating way! Well done to Adam Marcus and all the connections!”
