Australian racing’s most popular clerk of the course Subzero is fighting for his life in the Werribee Veterinary clinic.
The 1992 Melbourne Cup winner lost his appetite in the last week and vets have found that part of his bowel has become trapped between his kidney and his spleen.
Owner Graham Salisbury said that the twenty-five-year-olds condition is very serious and his health will have to improve significantly over the coming days if he is to avoid an operation or having to be put down.
“I think it’s touch and go, because of his age as much as anything else,” Salisbury told News Limited.
“He went off his tucker for a couple of weeks, and I started getting more and more worried.”
Subzero was retired in 1994 after an impressive racing career that included wins in the Group 1 South Australian Derby (2500m), Adelaide Cup (3200m) and most famously the 1992 Melbourne Cup (3200m), where he held off a fast finishing Veandercross in what was the final race win of his career.
He finished his career with only four wins from forty-two race starts but accumulated nearly two million dollars in prizemoney.
After his retirement from racing Subzero became a clerk of the course at Flemington Racecourse and quickly became one of the most popular figures at the track and developed into one of racing’s greatest ambassadors.
He was retired from his clerk of the course duties in 2008, after suffering a bout of arthritis, but has continued his work as an ambassador by visiting over 100 schools all around Victoria and is the most popular participant in the annual Melbourne Cup parade.
