Roaring Lion still fighting after weekend colic surgery in New Zealand

Dangers have by no means passed for Roaring Lion as he continues to recover from an emergency colic operation over the weekend.

The wellbeing of the Tweenhills stallion has not worsened since he was whisked to Cambridge Equine Hospital on Saturday morning but David Redvers, who oversees his management for owner Sheikh Fahad Al Thani, reports that the lights are by no means all green yet.

Roaring Lion had spent only 15 minutes in a paddock after being released from quarantine on Saturday at Cambridge Stud in New Zealand, where he was due to cover for the southern hemisphere breeding season, before symptoms were detected. Veterinary experts were required to untwist a section of his gut.

Redvers boarded a plane from Britain immediately in order to assess the operation’s star attraction, who won four Group 1s last year.

"Roaring Lion is doing okay," Redvers said on Monday. "He has had a sort of so-so day where he’s looking bright, he hasn’t gone backwards, but he’s not eating and he’s in some discomfort still.

"All his vital signs, colours, bloods and everything are looking good, we’d just like to see him aggressively going forward. We’re obviously all hoping to see him take ten steps forward but he’s just going to do it at his own pace."

Roaring Lion has a big fan club, not only from the powerbase of breeders who used him for top-class mares at Tweenhills in Gloucestershire, where he stood at a fee of £40,000. He was expected to command similarly lofty interest at Brendan and Jo Lindsay's Cambridge Stud, where he was slated to stand at NZ$35,000 (£18,770/€20,830).

The son of Kitten’s Joy also took Qatar Racing to new heights in sweeping through the Eclipse, Juddmonte International, Irish Champion Stakes and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on the way to being named Cartier Horse of the Year.

Redvers issued his gratitude to the numerous messages of goodwill he had received.

"It’s deeply worrying us still, and we’re a long way out of the woods, they’re still talking 60-40 but I’d say the next 48 hours are going to be really key and critical," he said.

"We just need to see that small intestine working again and at the moment there is still some question as to how effective it is. There has been an awful lot of interest, which is lovely, the old horse is long from giving up the fight yet."

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