The tale of The Giant Bolster's remarkable surgery and his miraculous recovery

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As the owner of cult hero The Giant Bolster, Simon Hunt has become used to getting stopped by people wanting to talk to him about his horse when visiting Cheltenham racecourse.

It was no different at the Showcase meeting last Friday and Saturday either, but this time people were not stopping to discuss the gritty chaser’s placed efforts in the 2012 and 2014 Cheltenham Gold Cup, or his victories on Festival Trials day.

No, this time they wanted to share their thoughts on The Giant Bolster’s remarkable recovery from a potentially life-threatening injury and the pioneering surgery undertaken for the first time at a local veterinary practice that had helped save him.

During eight seasons of racing, The Giant Bolster proved himself a top-notch chaser topped by wins in the 2014 Grade 2 Cotswolds Chase and the 2012 Grade 3 Murphy Group Handicap Chase.

In both of those years he also excelled himself in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, leading over the last in 2012 before being run down by Synchronised and then being involved in the bonkers finish to the 2014 race when Lord Windermere triumphed from nowhere.

Retired at the end of the 2015-16 season, The Giant Bolster took up dressage under the tutelage of Lucy Bridgwater, wife of the horse’s trainer David Bridgwater, before taking on a more genteel retirement nannying the young horses in the field at the trainer’s yard between Bourton-on-the-Water and Stow-on-the-Wold.

It was a role perfectly suited for The Giant Bolster, renamed Sammy now that his racing days were over, until one day when checking on the horse’s wellbeing, David Bridgwater spotted something clearly wasn’t right with his former stable star.

“Morning and night, Bridgy keeps an eye on these horses and he’d been down and popped his head over the gate and thought something wasn’t right with the horse,” Hunt says. “Immediately he grabbed some help and got the vet Mary Battersby, who came straight away. They managed to slowly walk the horse into one of the stables and stabilised him there. The next day he was moved the short distance down the road to Bourton Vale.”

The vets discovered The Giant Bolster had sustained a displaced fracture in the elbow of his near fore, deducing he had likely been kicked. It was outlined to Hunt that the injury was extremely serious and the options open to the horse he described as “the apple of my eye” were limited, to say the least.

“The surgeon and the team had been doing the x-rays and looking at what the issue was and it came down to myself and the surgeon having quite a long phone call,” Hunt says. “You’re in a position where there’s three options: euthanasia, plate and pin the injury or there was the third option of this surgery they'd never done before.

“With the first option, the horse is so well in himself and as bright as a button, we had to give him the chance. The second one, the problem was the surgery would have to be done under a general anaesthetic and he would have to get up under his own steam. The risk with the injury he had and him having to get up was that it could break out of the plate and pin.

“With the third one, they had been studying and reading up on it for a while - it wasn’t something that they had come to overnight. They said they had something here that they’d never done before, but they were confident that they knew what to do.”

The Giant Bolster: described as a 'remarkable horse' by owner Simon Hunt

The decision was an easy one for Hunt and his family to make, and he adds: “The horse loved what he was doing and he loved life - he was always happy. He had taken us to the pinnacle of National Hunt racing, we’d nearly touched the Gold Cup, and he’s been a remarkable horse for us.

“With everything there comes a cost, and there was a lengthy rehab for him to come through, but he owed us nothing and we owed him everything. In the end, it was a pretty easy decision.”

The details of the surgery were published last week in an online post by Bourton Vale Equine Clinic. Their solution to the problem was to remove a large amount of bone from the injured site under a standing sedation, rather than lying the horse down, something that “had only been reported once before in a horse”.

The surgery went well and a piece of bone - about 20-30cm long - was removed from the elbow joint at the top of The Giant Bolster's leg. He was then placed in an almighty splint and his recovery began, aided by his love of a hand-fed apple, Hunt reveals.

“He couldn’t have been a better patient,” Hunt says. “He let you get on with things and he put his trust in you, so it was fantastic. He got to the stage where they were able to open the door and lead him a few steps at a time, which was all about getting his confidence up.”

Gradually, the bandaging and the splint was reduced and eight weeks after surgery he was out in a small paddock. As well as learning to walk with his altered joint, The Giant Bolster learned how to roll again - something Hunt admits was nerve-racking to watch - and he has now reached the stage where he is turned out with a friend, something Hunt says was “extremely emotional to see”.

In its post, Bourton Vale Equine Clinic called The Giant Bolster’s recovery “remarkable”, especially given the rarity of the surgery he had, while Hunt praised the efforts of everyone involved.

“The number of people who have stopped me this week and said it’s fantastic to see has been amazing, but this isn’t something that’s happened in the last week,” he says. “It’s been many months and loads of dedicated care from people to get to this point. If you see him trotting around now, it’s unbelievable. Just unbelievable.”

Monday's picks

We are reaching the closing stages of the Flat turf season with rain sweeping in to turn the ground softer, while some horses might be deciding they have had enough for the campaign.

The period of transition can lead to some usual results and form certainly doesn’t hold up as well as it did at other times in the year, but connections of the horses in the 6f novice stakes (1.30) at Redcar will be hoping their horses can nick one more race before the season ends.

This will chiefly be the case for those involved in Oneforsue, a consistent filly who is dropped in grade after suffering something of a nightmare run at Newmarket last time out.

That came in the £150,000 Tattersalls October Auction Stakes when she was denied a run on several occasions before losing her position and then meeting trouble. It was a throw-out run, which can happen in a big field containing horses of varying abilities.

Before that, Oneforsue had put in good performances in a similar race on the July course at Newmarket and in a similar race to the Redcar one at Haydock. She is tough, she tries and she should be fine on the ground.

This could be her opportunity to get her head in front before her trainer Eric Alston hands in his licence at the end of the year.

Richard Birch give his selections for Monday

Three things to look out for today . . .

1. We shall start away from the track as it is day one of the Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training Sales in Newmarket. After a bumper season of yearling sales, it will be interesting to see whether the demand is also high for older, more proven horses. Last year’s sale was a blockbuster one, topped by the 700,000gns purchase of Grocer Jack by Najd Stud. Grocer Jack went on to win a Listed race for new trainer William Haggas and owner Prince Faisal, as well as placing in a pair of Group 3s. No doubt, international buyers will play a key role once again.

2. Back to matters on the course, with Ayr hosting what looks to be a potentially informative 2m½f novices’ handicap chase (3.15). The most interesting of the four runners is Nells Son, winner of the Grade 2 Premier Novices’ Hurdle at Kelso last season between decent efforts behind Jonbon at Haydock and in Grade 1 company at Aintree. The seven-year-old’s family tracks back to the likes of Hey Big Spender, who won three runnings of the Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle, so there is plenty of optimism for thinking fences will be beneficial to Nells Son. His rivals include Since Day One, a four-time winner over hurdles who was beaten in his point by Ash Tree Meadow, a narrow second over fences at Cheltenham on Friday.

3. Do you remember Thesis, the impressive Britannia Stakes winner who was subsequently sold to Hong Kong? Well, he was defeated in May by Awaal, who himself has not been seen since running at Haydock later the same month. The £350,000 half-brother to Breton Rock, among others, returns at Redcar this afternoon where he makes his handicap debut off 93 in the mile handicap (3.40). Awaal holds no other entries, and he is not entered in the sales, so perhaps a confidence-boosting win after a long break and then a winter off to prepare for next year is the thinking of trainers Ed and Simon Crisford? All will become clear a little later on today.

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The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday. Not a Members' Club Ultimate subscriber? Click here to join today and also receive our Ultimate Daily emails plus our full range of fantastic website and newspaper content