Vets operate on Cru Bourgeois to fix fractured bone and prognosis good

Cru Bourgeois has had surgery in Singapore to fix a broken bone above his eye and is expected to make a full recovery.

Chief Singapore Turf Club vet Dan Shaw, who moved from Matamata 10 years ago, made the call to operate after detecting pressure on the horse’s left eye socket.

Cru Bourgeois sustained the injury when he reared in the starting gates at Kranji last Sunday but he was not checked out and allowed to run.

Originally it had been planned to wait until swelling in the area receded but when there was no improvement Shaw operated under general anaesthesia to move the fractured bone back into place.

Shaw has assured Lincoln Farms’ Ian Middleton that the fracture should heal quickly and there will be no lasting effects.

Meanwhile in a statement the club has said it is reviewing the current procedures to avoid a repetition of the incident.

But it claims neither the starter, vet, barrier attendant nor rider were aware that the horse had struck its head.

That contradicts trainer Stephen Gray’s report that rider Vlad Duric told him the horse bashed his head on the side of the gates, he could see blood coming out his nose, and had asked for the horse to be checked.