Group One winning pacer dies

Multiple Group 1 harness racing winner Jilliby Kung Fu (Four Starzzz Shark) has died due to complications following surgery. 

The Paddy Lee trained pacer pulled up lame after training and had to be scratched from the Mercury 80 Final at Melton on Hunter Cup night. 

Regular driver Jason Lee said Jilliby Kung Fu was subsequently found to have sustained a fractured pastern. 

“He had surgery and as he was waking up he shattered a leg and had to be put down,” Lee said. 

“And looking at the way the Mercury Final was run with the speed on throughout he would have been very hard to beat,” he said. 

The son of Four Starzzz Shark proved himself one of the best pacers in the land in 2018 winning the Chariots Of Fire before being beaten by a head by Field Marshall in the fastest Miracle Mile on record in 1:46.9. 

“He was such a good horse for us, he didn’t deserve to have an ending like this,” he said. 

Jilliby Kung Fu earned $580,000 in stake money from 19 wins and left six winners after standing at stud while recovering from injury in 2020.

by John Dunne, for Harnesslink