Disqualified Stayers' Hurdle hero Avro Anson dies at the age of 32

Julie Camacho's stable in Malton was mourning the end of an era on Wednesday after the death of top-class hurdler Avro Anson at the remarkable age of 32.

He was foaled at Star Cottage in 1988, when Camacho's father Maurice held the licence, and spent his whole life in the yard.

The stable star was best known for his controversial disqualification after the 1994 Stayers' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

He passed the post a game short-head winner from Balasani under Mark Dwyer but was judged to have hampered the runner-up and the positions were reversed at a stewards' inquiry.

Maurice and Julie Camacho with Avro Anson at Star Cottage Stables in 1997Credit: Sporting Life

"He lived out his life where he began it, here at Star Cottage," Maurice Camacho said.

"He's been part of the furniture here for 32 years and he will be missed by us all. His loss will be felt the most by his pal Dancing Bay, who doesn't think our pony Harvey is quite the same.

"He had many a fine hour on the racecourse, probably his most poignant was his 'win' in the Stayers' Hurdle at Cheltenham, where he was subsequently disqualified – a decision that would not have happened under the current rules."

A three-time winner on the Flat, Avro Anson finished second in the Letheby & Christopher Hurdle at Ascot and won the Long Distance Hurdle at Haydock after his Cheltenham disqualification.

When sent over fences he beat Lord Gyllene when winning the Dipper Novices' Chase at Newcastle in 1996 and finished sixth behind the same horse on the first of two cracks at the Grand National in 1997.

Overall he won ten times and earned more than £122,000 in prize-money, running his final race 21 years ago this month.

Maurice Camacho said: "One thing we did know was that he could jump. As a yearling he jumped over his stable door, and as a two-year-old he jumped a hedge onto the local golf course where he was not very well received!"

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