Chris Waller pays tribute to Shoot Out: ‘You always wish you had a stable full of horses like him’

FORMER star Queensland galloper Shoot Out died prematurely this week after contracting colic and then found to have a torn diaphragm.

Shoot Out won over $3.2 million in his career.

FORMER star Queensland galloper Shoot Out died prematurely this week after contracting colic and then found to have a torn diaphragm.

His loss came just days after owner Linda Huddy celebrated the $500,000 bonus win by Most Important at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

Huddy said the 10-year-old was exhibiting signs of colic on Tuesday and he was taken for emergency surgery, but “nothing could be done for him.”

“It’s very sad. We will bring him home and bury him on the farm at Peachester,” Huddy said on Radio TAB.

A bargain $15,000 buy, Shoot Out carried the colours of Huddy and her husband Graham to feature race success in three states of Australia.

Shoot Out won five Group 1 races during his career.

Under the care of John Wallace, he won the Group 2 QTC Sires Produce Stakes and the following year claimed the Randwick Guineas-ATC Australian Derby Group 1 double, when ridden by the late Stathi Katsidis.

“John always told us he was something special,” Huddy said.

Shoot Out enjoyed further success as an early four-year-old, claiming the Liston Stakes, before his form fell away.

He was later switched to the stables of Chris Waller and became an outstanding miler, adding another three Group 1 races to his record.

“He was a very good horse. I can only take claim for the second part of his career but prior coming to me he was a superstar,” Waller told AAP.

“I was lucky enough to be involved with him at the end of his career.

“He was a tough horse. One of those old genuine weight-for-age horses. He was unlucky not to have won a few more. He carried big weights in Doncasters and ran into good horses and always ran a good race. You always wish you had a stable full of horses like him.”

He retired with 10 wins and $3.25 million in prizemoney.

# Toowoomba trainer Ben Currie was on Wednesday handed a $9000 fine for presenting Party Till Dawn to race with methamphetamine at Toowoomba in July last year.

Stewards had found the trainer guilty late last year, but reserved sentencing until Wednesday.

It follows Currie being fined $6000 for a positive test to boldenone from Tints in April last year at Rockhampton. The trainer has previously indicated his intention to appeal the guilty findings in both cases.

# Defending Magic Millions champion jockey Blake Shinn will be an absentee from this year’s $10m meeting after being suspended at Kembla Grange on Tuesday. Shinn had earlier ridden four winners for Peter and Paul Snowden, the same team he combined with to win last year’s MM 2YO Classic on Capitalist.

Originally published as Chris Waller pays tribute to Shoot Out: ‘You always wish you had a stable full of horses like him’