What is left to be said about the horse I love so dearly?
Over the past couple of days since it was announced that Denman was going to be retired with immediate effect, I've spent hours on end reading and watching everyone's tributes to the gorgeous, bourneville coloured 11 year old. Reliving the memories, the memories that I will never forget and if you're reading this, I doubt you will either.
I’d been given the “heads up” so to speak that some bad news was on its way so I was prepared for the worst. I'm just glad that he was injured at home and not on the racecourse where it could have been much worse.
Of course it is a great shame but it is for the best, there's no point keeping an injured 11 year old in training when he owed nobody anything anyway. I'm truly grateful that he has been retired safe and that he'll have a happy retirement.
Every time Denman ran I would worry about him so much and the majority of times I would end up crying my eyes out whether he won or otherwise! That was the effect Denman had on me and several others.
My all time favourite Denman race was the 2009 Hennessy Gold Cup; it left me speechless. No one expected him to do that, especially after his heart problems and with him having to give so much weight away to the rest of the field. It didn't even look like he wanted to set off let alone win it. As much as I loved Sam Thomas and Denman's partnership you have to give it to Ruby for that ride. It was amazing; a fitting cliché to describe it would be, "like poetry in motion".
Whether you were "Team Denman", "Team Kauto" or whoever else you can't deny what a wonderful racehorse "the tank" has been; the unforgettable memories he has yielded for us all.
Personally, I can't sum it up into one sentence how much that horse means to me. To me there are no others like him, he will always be my favourite racehorse; I doubt anyone will come close, in my eyes, never mind replace him! There's only one Denman and I'm just privileged I've been around to see him. Huge thanks must go to Paul Nicholls, Paul Barber, Harry Findlay, Adrian Maguire, Sam Thomas, Ruby Walsh, AP McCoy and all the lads and lasses who have looked after him throughout his career. There are so many people who I could name here.
I would also like to thank every single person who sent messages to me regarding Denman over the past couple of days. Everyone knows how much he means to me and I was touched by the amount of people who thought of me when they heard the news.
Denman was quite simply the bravest of the brave. I shall be telling my children and grandchildren about him (and Kauto!) in several years time and I'm sure you will too. Thank you for all the memories Denman; have a long and happy retirement big fella, you deserve it.
