STAR Tasmanian galloper Geegees Blackflash was rushed to the Longford Equine Clinic yesterday for emergency surgery after scans revealed a lump in his bowel.
Geegees Blackflash had been unwell and not eaten or taken any liquid for almost two days, which led trainer Leon Wells to arrange a scan to identify the problem.
“The scan revealed a huge mass that seemed to be embedded in the horse’s bowel,” Wells said.
“I spoke to the horse’s owners [Paul and Elizabeth Geard] and we got in touch with Alistair McLean, who is the best equine surgeon in Australia, and his response was brilliant.
“Alistair pretty much dropped everything and was on the first flight into Launceston this morning.
“He arrived at the Longford clinic at 8am and was operating on the horse an hour later.” The surgery went as planned but the trainer and owners were on tenterhooks awaiting the outcome.
“He [Mclean] said he has never seen anything like the lump that was blocking the horse’s bowel and that it is about half the size of a basketball,” Wells said.
“It is a massive lump that McLean said has most likely been there for a long time but you never would have know because until now it has never bothered him.
“But he was able to perform what he called bypass surgery that involves manipulating the bowel to form a bypass around the lump which enables the manure to pass freely into the septum.” When connections were first made aware of the lump it was feared it may be cancerous but McLean does not believe it to be a tumour.
“Alistair is very confident it is not a cancerous tumour -because if it was the horse would be losing weight not putting it on like he was before the problem flared,” he said.
“He was also wary of trying to detach the lump for fear of causing it to bleed and that could have been catastrophic.” While Geegees Blackflash was in a small paddock an hour after the operation, he will be monitored for the next few days.
“Alistair said he was very pleased with the operation but we probably won’t know for a few days whether it has been totally successful,” Wells said.
A decision on whether Geegees Blackflash is retired from racing will be made in the coming weeks.
Geegees Blackflash became the first Tasmanian galloper to earn $1 million in stakes without leaving the state.His outstanding record comprises 22 wins and 27 minor placings from 66 starts and includes two Group 3 Hobart Cups, a Group 3 Launceston Cup and multiple listed races ranging in distance from 1200m to 2400m.