Owner Steve Packham pays tribute to 'member of the family' Shallwehaveonemore

Owner Steve Packham has paid tribute to Shallwehaveonemore who was euthanised following a fall in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle on the first day of the Cheltenham Festival. He described the seven-year-old as a kind and talented horse with a voracious appetite for carrots.

Packham, 55, who runs a construction company based on the south coast, said he had been overwhelmed by the messages he and his family have received since Shallwehaveonemore’s death and praised the veterinary team at Cheltenham for giving his horse “every opportunity to be okay” before he was put down.

“Everyone has been so sympathetic and praised the horse so much,” he said.

“What happened is one of the unfortunate things that comes with the game we love, it’s the sad side of the sport.

“No-one ever wants to see it happen to any animal and when it happens to a talented horse like him it’s even more saddening. All the messages we’ve received have been appreciated and I’ve had people who I don’t know coming up to me and passing on their sympathy as well.

Shallewehaveonemore: 'My youngest son adored him and he was like a member of the family'Credit: Edward Whitaker

“He was a lovely horse, a lovely person. My youngest son adored him and he was like a member of the family. We’d go to see him and the other horses every weekend. He absolutely loved carrots, I mean loved them. I know all horses do, but he’d eat handfuls of them.”

Trained by Gary Moore, Shallwehaveonemore landed a bumper on his debut at Kempton last March and was a 20-length winner of a novice hurdle at Sandown last month prior to finishing second in the Grade 2 Dovecote Novices’ Hurdle under regular rider Josh Moore.

Sent off at 40-1 for the Supreme, Shallwehaveonemore was hampered by the fall of Dysart Dynamo at the third-last hurdle before falling at the last. He was the only fatality on day one of the festival, with all other horses reported to have returned home safely.

Packham, who also owns Goshen, had previously experienced misfortune at Cheltenham's final flight when that talented hurdler unseated Jamie Moore when ten lengths clear in the 2020 Triumph Hurdle, while last year the same horse hung away his chances in the Champion Hurdle.

“We’ve had particularly bad luck at that last hurdle, but it’s one of those things,” he said. “Shallwehaveonemore was hampered by the faller at the third-last and if something more had happened there which meant he never got to the last, he might have been okay, but that wasn’t how it happened.

“He looked so well in the paddock before he went out and he even won best-turned-out, he was such a nice horse. It is the sad side of the game we love, but horses can hurt themselves turned out in the paddock at home. They’re beautiful animals but they’re fragile and we understand that. Nobody in racing wants harm to come to any horse.

“I have to thank the vets at Cheltenham as they did everything they could for him. They thought he might be winded to start. They gave him the time and every opportunity to be okay. I can’t thank them enough for what they did for him.”

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