Last year's Grand National champion Auroras Encore has been forced to retire after fracturing a leg.
The surprise 66/1 winner at Aintree, trained by Sue Smith and steered to victory by jockey Ryan Mania, finished ninth at Doncaster last weekend, and it was later discovered that the horse had suffered an injury during the race. Following surgery, the disappointing news was broken by Smith.
"These things happen. I just want him home to have a happy retirement," Smith said to the Yorkshire Post.
"He has had an operation to a repair a fracture. They got him up successfully after the surgery and he was staying overnight in the operating box. Fingers crossed - it's still early days.
"He won a National for us. It doesn't get bigger than that. He doesn't owe us anything. This is a racing injury and I'm afraid that it is what you have to expect from the job on occasion. We have to expect these things and that's all there is to it. I just want him back to his retirement."
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