Danzig Moon: A tough, tough loss for all

It was a sad day for all on Sunday, June 14, as John Oxley's sweet 3-year-old colt, Danzig Moon, had to be euthanized after breaking down in the Plate Trial at Woodbine in Canada on Sunday, June 14.

With jockey Julien Leparoux riding, Danzig Moon was closely following the race leaders down the backstretch before breaking down heading into the far turn.

The horse then collided with another horse, unseating Leparoux, who immediately jumped up, grabbed hold of the reins of his horse in an effort to try and protect him.

Unfortunately, the injury, a rare broken right-hind leg, was very severe and the horse had to be euthanized.

The other horse and jockey, as well as Leparoux, were unharmed.

Needless to say, Danzig Moon's connections were overwhelmed with grief over the loss of their horse, who seemed to have such a promising career ahead of him.

"I don't know if it has really sunk in yet," said Danzig Moon's trainer Mark Casse in an article in the Toronto Sun. "It's a crazy injury – a hind-leg injury you don't see that often. You just never know when something like this is going to happen."

Danzig Moon had a stellar spring season, finishing fifth in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and sixth in the Preakness Stakes (G1). The Plate Trial was a prep race for the $1 million Queen's Plate, which Danzig Moon was aiming to run in.

The Queen's Plate is the biggest race for 3-year-olds bred in Canada. By Malibu Moon-Leaveminthedust, by Danzig, Danzig Moon was bred by William D. Graham in Ontario, Canada, on March 24, 2012.

In all, Danzig Moon, who's owner, Oxley, is a Midway, Ky. resident, had one win, two seconds and $311,120 in earnings in eight career starts. His best stakes finish was second place in the Bluegrass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland on April 4, 2015. His lone win came in a Maiden Special Weight race at Churchill Downs on Oct. 24, 2014.

In an article in the Toronto Star on Tuesday, June 17, Casse talked more about what the loss has meant to him, his son, and owner John Oxley, “It’s been tough on me, very tough on Mr. Oxley (owner John C. Oxley) and especially crushing to Norman (assistant trainer Norman Casse, Mark’s son),” a sombre Casse said Tuesday afternoon. “The biggest problem is this: you don’t know why it happened.

“If you knew why it happened, you could try to do it better or do it differently. So now we’ve got this fear and worry that it could happen again. It’s going to take a long time to be able to watch races because they (horses) are part of your family. We had the (Woodbine) Oaks the next race (Sunday), we had four horses in it and I couldn’t even watch.”