Dual European highweight White Muzzle (GB) (Dancing Brave–Fair Of The Furze {GB}, by Ela-Mana-Mou {GB}), winner of the G1 Derby Italiano at Capannelle in 1993, has died in Japan at the age of 27. Bred by Airlie Stud and trained by Peter Chapple-Hyam originally for Luciano Gaucci, White Muzzle was then sold to the Yoshida family but remained in Chapple-Hyam's care. He also won a Group 2 in Deauville in 1994 but it was in defeat that he ran some of his best races. This included finishing a neck second to subsequent 'blue hen' Urban Sea (Miswaki) in the 1993 G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and also finishing second in consecutive runnings of the G1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond S. at Ascot in 1993 and 1994. He returned to Longchamp in 1994 well fancied to make amends for his defeat the previous year, but he finished a never dangerous sixth to Carnegie (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) with jockey Yutaka Take coming in for severe criticism, most notably from Chapple-Hyam, who felt the Japanese jockey gave the horse far too much to do. White Muzzle retired to stud in Japan for the 1995 season and among his 15 black-type winners are: G1 Singapore Airlines International Cup hero Shadow Gate (Jpn), champion Asakusa Kings (Jpn) and G1 Japan Cup Dirt victor Nihonpiro Ours (Jpn).
Paying tribute to White Muzzle on Twitter Chapple-Hyam said, “He was a cracker, a wonderful horse, missed so Big Muz.”
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