‘Absolutely heartbroken’ leading horse racing owners quit the sport and sell all 29 horses days after devastating death

‘ABSOLUTELY heartbroken’ leading owners Caldwell Construction are to quit racing and sell all 29 of their horses in a shock exit from the sport.

Caldwell, owned by Stoke-based Andy and Gemma Brown, said in a post on X they were finding it ‘hard to cope’ just days after the death of one of their most promising horses.

Caldwell Potter will be one of the horses sold by Andy and Gemma Brown after they announced their shock exit from racingSportsfile

PAElliott has seen a whole load of his runners leave just weeks before Cheltenham[/caption]

The Browns sadly saw five-year-old hurdler D B Cooper – who they bought for £225,000 – die on the racecourse on just his third run earlier this week.

Their big horse Mighty Potter was also fatally injured in a fall at Fairyhouse last April.

The couple, who run a hugely successful construction business, will sell Grade 1-winning and big Cheltenham Festival hope Caldwell Potter as part of their dispersal.

A statement on behalf of the couple read: “Further to the sad loss of one of our young horses D B Cooper again as a family we are absolutely heartbroken.

“Also we lost Smooth Player only just two weeks ago.

“Having a young family it’s hard to cope with such losses and therefore we feel it is time for a break from the sport.”

All of Caldwell Construction’s horses will be put up for sale at the Tattersalls Ireland auction on February 6.

Caldwell Potter could spark a bidding frenzy just seven weeks out from the Festival.

He is 14-1 for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and 12-1 for the Baring Bingham.

The Browns are known for their close association with three-time Grand National winner Gordon Elliott, who trained their horses.

They stuck with him through his dead horse photo shame and gave him his first winner back following a six-month ban.

Leading trainer Elliott insisted there had not been any falling out but said their conversation about the split had been brief.

He told the Racing Post: “I have had an amazing two or three years training for them and we’ve had some unbelievable success

“We didn’t go into their reasoning for it too much so I don’t know exactly – I only got the phone call myself on Thursday morning.

“There has been absolutely no falling out. They just wanted to take a break from the game and I couldn’t say enough good things about them.”

The Browns invested massively at the sales and had Festival success with Jazzy Matty, who won the Boodles last March.

Fil Dor, Pied Piper, Sa Fureur and Imagine were their other Graded-leve winners.

They had earnings of more than £1million and 57 winners in all over the past five seasons under their ownership name of Caldwell Construction.

Elliott said he hopes some other owners come in to buy the horses and keep them in his yard.

He added: “Losing that many horses isn’t ideal but we will just keep going and obviously I would be very keen to keep a good few of the horses.”