We have seen a number of well known legends of Cheltenham retire this year, such as A Plus Tard and Paisley Park. Unfortunately the latest legend to go, Shishkin, won’t get the chance to go out to pasture and enjoy his final days after being put down following a leg break at his stable over the weekend.
The ten year old two time Cheltenham winner had been due to ride in the Gold Cup only last month before a virus at Nicky Henderson’s stable led to him being withdrawn along with several stable mates. This was reflected in the fact the Nicky Henderson didn’t train a winner at the 2024 festival, an almost unheard of event.
Having recovered from the virus Shishkin was due to go head-to-head with Willie Mullins trained Galopin Des Champs, who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in his absence, in the Punchestown Gold Cup on Wednesday. Obviously that match up will now not happen.
The news of his untimely death has shocked the stable and the wider horse racing world. At only 10 years old he had plenty left in him yet, including a chance to show he could go the distance with Galopin Des Champs. Nicky Henderson said on X:
“Tragically we’ve lost Shishkin this evening after he got cast in his stable and fractured his hind leg.”
“This is a very sad night. He was our star and we will never forget him. Thank you Shishkin for the wonderful memories.”
We have some very sad news to break this evening regarding Shishkin. pic.twitter.com/RZScNQ3NFG
— Nicky Henderson (@sevenbarrows) April 28, 2024
Two-Time Cheltenham Winner
There are horses that take to Cheltenham and horses that don’t and Shishkin was certainly a lover of the course and it’s famous hill. He was also much loved by the crowds and that is an even harder aspect to achieve.
A big reason for the love that came his way was the fact he won the first race of the Festival in 2020 at odds of 6/1, the Supreme Novices Hurdle, in front of a record crowd at the time. This was right before Covid hit, indeed it was the last major horse racing meeting until all racing was locked down. It brought a British winner in the first race that year and given the Brits have suffered horribly to the Irish in recent years it meant for once the Brits had the lead, even if it was only for one race.
One year later the hurdler progressed to become a two-mile novice chaser when he won the 2021 Arkle at 4/9 on – although no one was there to see that one due to the lockdown rules at the time.
This was followed by perhaps his greatest achievement winning the Clarence House Chase at Ascot beating Energumene in early 2022. This was the peak of his rating and many expected him to go on and win the 2022 Champion Chase but he was pulled up in that race. Later it was revealed he was suffering from a rare bone disease that curtailed the rest of his season.
When he popped up again in 2023 he went on to win the Ascot Chase, Aintree Bowl as well as finishing an impressive second in the Ryanair Chase at the 2023 Cheltenham Festival. Following the strong 2023 season when the horse seemed to be coming back to his best there was the prospect that Shishkin may go on to win the Gold Cup and that was the hope in 2024 before Henderson’s yard was hit by the mystery virus.
In 2024 Shishkin refused in the 1965 Ascot Chase and that reflected part of what people loved about him. He was a horse with character who on his day was a champion but when he decided he didn’t fancy it he wasn’t going to let anyone persuade him any different.
His final race was fourth in the Aintree Bowl, the race he won the year before. In total Shishkin won 14 of the 21 races that he started, an impressive strike rate of 67%. In his career he landed his owner nearly £800,000 in winnings and would surely have got that over £1,000,000 if not for the incredibly sad and unfortunate early end to his career. A Cheltenham and Ascot legend that will never be forgotten.