Dual Champion Hurdle winner Buveur D'Air is said to be recovering very well after his operation to remove a piece of wood from his hoof that got stuck when jumped the second last flight in the Grade One Fighting Fifth at Newcastle.
Saturday saw one of the biggest racing shocks of the season when the multiple Grade One winner was done on the line by the Micky Hammond trained Cornerstone Lad who was one of the outsiders on the day.
Buveur D'Air is a dual winner of the Newcastle feature contest and was the 2/13 favourite to land a hat-trick of events but it was not to be with the eight year old returning lame after the race.
Barry Geraghty reported his mount, who hit the second-last flight hard, had a splinter of wood in the lower section of his off-fore and on Sunday underwent an operation give by David Mathieson and his team at Donnington Grove Veterinary Surgery in Newbury.
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BUVEUR D'AIR (FR), placed second, finished lame right fore. Henry Brooke the rider of the winner CORNERSTONE LAD, was suspended for 4 days for using his whip above the permitted level
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Nicky Henderson has reported his star hurdler to be comfortable after his operation that was a success but had no comment on if he would actually be out for the season with it being a waiting game now.
(Credit Racing Post) He said: "He's sore, and he's bound to be because he's had a huge segment of his hoof removed from where they had to go in to get the piece of wood out. He's got a gaping hole in his hoof and it's not pretty – when it's half a horse's hoof it must be very painful.
"He's getting the best medical attention there is, and he's comfortable, but it will take a long time to grow over. They didn't need to use a general anaesthetic, which is a plus, and thankfully he hasn’t damaged the joint so we have a lot to be thankful for as it could have been much worse."