Devastated trainer Mick Channon was yesterday trying to come to terms with the loss of the exciting Bint Allayl. The shock death of the filly has blown the market for the Sagitta 1,000 Guineas wide open and left a gaping void in Channon's Kingsdown stables.
Bint Allayl, the ante-post favourite in all lists for the Newmarket Classic, sustained the fatal injury in a routine canter on Monday. Vets battled through the day to try to save her but they eventually had to accept defeat and she was put down later that night.
Channon, trying to carry on as normal yesterday, said: "This has been very hard to take for everyone concerned at Kingsdown. But when you're training racehorses things like this happen. It's the nature of the beast and the show must go on.
"I feel desperately sorry for her owner and am privileged to have trained such an exceptional filly.
"She had an incredible cruising speed and horses like this don't come along very often."
Bint Allayl, owned and bred by Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum, had made a complete recovery from the operation on a hock that had kept her off the course since her victory in the Lowther Stakes at York last August.
"She was just coming along nicely and we were only doing sensible canters with her. She was three or four weeks away from galloping. I was happy with her and she was beginning to look well," said Channon.
Disaster struck when Bint Allayl was doing her customary exercise with regular rider Candy Morris. She suffered a spiral fracture of her left-fore humerus.
After finishing runner-up on her debut Bint Allayl soon showed that she was out of the top drawer with an impressive victory in the National Stakes, a Listed race, at Sandown. Scintillating displays followed in two Group events, the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Lowther Stakes.
"She was a special horse and is going to be missed by everybody at Kingsdown," said the trainer.
The Henry Cecil-trained Bionic is now 6 to 1 favourite for the 1,000 Guineas with William Hill. They then bet: 8-1 Moiava (10-1), 9-1 Etizaaz (12-1), 10-1 Mother of Pearl (20-1), 12-1 Crystal Charm (16-1), Saytarra (20-1), 16-1 bar.
