A formerly Irish-trained champion racehorse who once won at Royal Ascot was found “starving in a cold mud pen waiting to die” on a farm in the United States.
War Envoy, once trained by Aidan O’Brien, is now being cared for along with nine other horses found and rescued by the Kentucky Humane Society.
The horse, a one time Royal Ascot winner, raced 12 times for the Ballydoyle-based O’Brien for its owners, the Coolmore partners and Joseph Allen. It won the Britannia Stakes at Ascot in 2015.
It was sold at auction for £120,000 and raced in the US until 2017. He was identified as being among 10 horses discovered on the farm in Franklin County.
Those now taking care of the animal questioned how a horse “can go from a Breeders’ Cup entry, flying around from the US to Ireland and England and back several times and receiving the best of care to this situation”.
The humane society said the the horse’s journey to “starving in a cold mud pen waiting to die, will never cease to be tragic and baffling”.
“It’s going to be a long road and require a lot of care but you’re safe, buddy,” the society added. “The 10 horses from this situation will all receive wonderful care.”
The society said: “For now their actual care is our priority, and we still have a lot of mud to remove, legs to wash and medicate, and 4 are stallions so those are all being kept separately.
“We didn’t even know any of them were stallions when we picked them up because they are so hungry and thin their testicles were all tucked up beyond sight and only found when palpated by the vet.”
The society’s equine care team was alerted to 13 reportedly neglected animals. Two staff members were deployed to collect the animals and bring them to its own farm for medical attention.
“Upon arrival, we found that recent rainfall created such a muddy mess that parts of this property were impassible,” the society said.
“We discovered three of the horses had jumped a fence to a part of the property that we could not access, but thankfully look to be in decent condition and will have access to grass and water in their pasture.
“It took eight hours, but we were able to corral the other 10 horses and load them into our trailers. Our team has offered to go back for the three remaining horses, and will work with local law enforcement to do so.”
