Herbert: ‘It was time to regroup with Bonfire’
Thursday 19 July 2012
By Ashley Wishaw
Harry Herbert has revealed that Bonfire will be aimed at lucrative targets overseas next year after the Dante Stakes victor was gelded.
Bonfire could only finish sixth to Nathaniel in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown two weeks ago and after the unkindest cut of all he will be given the rest of the year off to recover.
“There are some amazing races now and there is a lot of prize-money to be won with this horse and our owners are very excited that he is being kept to race next year. He has the rest of this year off to strengthen and build,” Herbert told Racing UK.
The gelding had a testicle removed last year as a two-year-old, and after a meeting between Herbert, John Warren and trainer Andrew Balding it was decided that he would have to go without the other.
“We took one off last year as a two year old,” the Highclere racing manager said. “He had a reversed testicle so he only had one. We felt the remaining one might be giving gyp. We felt the time had come to re-group with the horse.”
The social media websites were aflutter yesterday when the news broke, with many users cynically suggesting that a career over hurdles was in store but Herbert refuted any claims that Bonfire’s Flat career was over and underlined that they were right to geld a Group 2 victor.
“First and foremost you have to try to make the horse at the end of the day,” he added. “To be a stallion nowadays you have to be a multiple Group one winner. With some horses the gelding of them has been the making of them.”
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