The return to the track of one of Britain's best-loved racehorses - Best Mate - ended in tragedy when he suffered a suspected heart attack and died during his comeback race.
Anticipation surrounding the reappearance of the triple Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, who was owned by Birmingham businessman and Aston Villa fan Jim Lewis, soon turned to concern when he was pulled up in the William Hill Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter yesterday.
Jockey Paul Carberry stopped the champion horse, which ran in colours modelled on Villa's 1957 FA Cup-winning strip and was trained by Henrietta Knight, and tried to take him back to the racecourse stables.
But he collapsed with a suspected heart attack and died.
