Stunning news from Australia, where promising 5-year-old sprinter Sunburnt Land was killed today, struck by lightning during a ferocious thunderstorm north of Melbourne.
As a son of Scenic, I have written about him before, most recently after his third-place finish against Swick and Turffontein in the G1 Patinack on Emirates Stakes Day at Flemington last week. He was a horse somewhat notorious for his erratic behavior in the barrier, but appeared to finally be on the upswing. Devastating to lose such a gifted gelding. Sadly ironic, his next start was to have been the G1 Lightning Stakes. My deepest condolences to his connections, owner David Moodie and trainer Mathew Ellerton, on their loss.
Very sad about Sunburnt Land's demise. It was indeed a very fierce storm and quite freaky that lightning struck that one horse.
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