Derby winner Furore retires, Luke Currie faces six weeks on the sidelines
- Frankie Lor pays tribute to the galloper that ‘created many good memories’ for his stable, while scans reveal the Australian jockey has fractured a vertebrae
Furore has been retired after a prolonged battle with injury, with the 2019 Hong Kong Derby winner to return to Australia to while away his days.
The seven-year-old began his career with four wins in Australia and a third placing in the Group One Rosehill Guineas before going on to dominate during his four-year-old season in Hong Kong.
After winning the Classic Mile, the son of Pierro finished fourth in the Classic Cup behind stablemate Mission Tycoon before taking out the Derby.
Furore provided Frankie Lor Fu-chuen with a Derby win in only his second season as a trainer, with Lor looking back fondly on that success in Hong Kong’s most prestigious race.
“He created many good memories for me and in just my second season, for him to win the Derby was amazing,” Lor said.
“He was a great horse for my stable and it was unfortunate when he was transferred to Tony Cruz.”
Furore only raced another seven times for Lor after his Derby success before he was transferred to Cruz ahead of a consistent 11-month period where he placed three times at Group One level.
After a three-quarter-length second behind Exultant in the 2020 QE II Cup, Furore pushed Golden Sixty to within a short head in last year’s Gold Cup, with wins in the Group Three Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse and the Group Two Jockey Club Cup in between.
The gelding amassed more than HK$36 million in prize money across his 22 Hong Kong starts and was the highest rated horse in Cruz’s stable at the time of his retirement, but he didn’t race again following that runner-up finish to Golden Sixty.
“It’s sadly game over, he’s got some shoulder problems,” Cruz said. “His legs are perfect but at the start of the season after all his training he was lame on his left shoulder and now he’s lame on the right shoulder.
“It’s very complicated so the vets advised us to retire the horse. All my other horses have retired and he was the last of the veterans, he was good for my stable so I was hoping he could go on but that plan has been cut short.”
Luke Currie sidelined ‘until further notice’ after suffering concussion in Sha Tin trial fall
Meanwhile, the injuries suffered by Australian jockey Luke Currie in his fall from the David Hall-trained Pride Of Eight in a Sha Tin trial on Friday morning are worse than first thought.
While it was hoped the 40-year-old had escaped with concussion after the saddle slipped aboard the three-year-old, scans have revealed a fracture to his T7 vertebrae that is likely to keep him sidelined for at least six weeks.
Currie is in the infancy of his Hong Kong career after making the move from Australia last month and has had only eight rides in the jurisdiction, saluting with the first of those aboard the David Hayes-trained Miracle Victory on January 30.
