By Michael Guerin
Battle Heights, the horse who would not lay down on the racetrack, finally could not get up yesterday.
The racing warrior of the mid-1970s was put down yesterday, much to the distress of his caretaker Ross Douglas.
Douglas had been looking after Battle Heights since his father, outstanding horseman Tim
Douglas died in March.
"I would have loved for Battle Heights to have made it through another couple of years because then he would have been 33, which equates to 100 in human years," Douglas said.
Even though Battle Heights was 31, his death came as a shock to Douglas.
"I thought we would get him through another winter because he was still being hard fed every day and he looked really well."
But when Douglas went out to feed Battle Heights yesterday the great horse was on the way out.
"He was lying down and had just had enough. He was unable to get to his feet so I had to have him humanely put down. At least he didn't suffer."
Battle Heights will now be buried on the Douglas family farm near Morrinsville, where the ashes of Tim Douglas and his wife, Elaine, were spread.
"I will bury him near the trees we planted for mum and dad when they passed way and I will put up a plaque to honour Battle Heights. You could say that will complete the triangle in the story."
Battle Heights earned that plaque as the greatest horse in the famed Douglas galloping dynasty.
And he did it the hard way.
The gelding was no glamour youngster and was rated just another smart handicapper until his 6-year-old season.
That was when he blossomed into a serious galloping force, winning the Wellington Cup before crossing the ravine to weight-for-age land in the International Invitation at Te Rapa.
He then crossed the Tasman to bolt away with the Sydney Cup-Queen Elizabeth II double and was well on the way to establishing himself as one of the all-time greats of the post war era.
The next season he stamped his bullocking style on the Melbourne spring carnival, winning the Cox Plate before a luckless seventh under a big weight in the Melbourne Cup.
Racing in elite company until he was 10, he also won the Metropolitan Handicap and Craven Plate as well as running second in the Caulfield Cup.
His career finished when he broke down in the MacKinnon Stakes, by which stage he had recorded 23 wins from 115 starts for $397,000 in stakes.
