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Paul Carberry and Go Native, winners of the Supreme Novices Hurdle in 2009. ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

'Cruel blow' as Go Native suffers fatal injury

Noel Meade’s Go Native, winner of the Supreme Novices Hurdle in 2009, has died following an accident this morning.

LEADING IRISH HURDLER Go Native has been put down after breaking a leg on the gallops this morning, trainer Noel Meade confirmed.

Best remembered for winning the Supreme Novices Hurdle at Cheltenham in 2009, the nine-year-old looked to be coming back to his best this season following a long spell out of action with injury.

“We’re all in a state of shock at the moment,” Meade said (Sky Sports).

“He was just doing a very steady canter. I was stood about 100 yards away from him and all of a sudden I heard this almighty crack and he’d somehow broken his leg above the hock.

We are all completely devastated. It’s cruel blow for his owners and everyone in the yard.

Following a flat win in Galway last month, Go Native ran over jumps for the first time in 31 months in the Grade 1 Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown last weekend, disputing the lead with eventual winner Hurricane Fly before crashing out at the last fence.

He showed no ill-effects from the injury afterwards and Meade considered sending him to Newcastle for next month’s Fighting Fifth Hurdle, a race he won in 2009.

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