Racehorse TALK

Adrian Dunn

July 10, 2007 12:00am

BENEDETTI, the horse who catapulted trainer Tony Noonan on to the international stage, is fighting for his life.

Noonan admitted prospects were slim that Benedetti, who won two races in Dubai in February, would survive.

He said X-rays of the two splint bones, either side of the cannon bone, that Benedetti smashed in a paddock accident on Sunday had been emailed to the country's leading veterinary surgeons.

"We're just waiting to get some feedback from them as far as the likelihood of surgery," Noonan said.

"His career is over and he is still in a position where it is life threatening.

"We are still conferring with the specialists (to see) if anything can be done to save him. Unfortunately, it's not looking good."

Benedetti was spelling in Queensland as he has done for the past couple of years. Noonan said the five-year-old slipped over in his paddock.

"They took his rugs off and he went for a canter around the paddock, slipped and fell," Noonan said.

"In the process he has smashed both splint bones and damaged the joints to his knee."

Benedetti, a last-start third in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm on June 9, was due to return to work today.

Noonan said Benedetti, a winner of seven of his 22 starts, was on the cusp of something big.

"I really thought he was going to be a serious player in the spring. He was just starting to come into his own," Noonan said.

Benedetti justified the decision by Noonan to take horses to the Dubai International carnival in February.

He won two races and finished fifth in the Zabeel Mile, while stablemate Smart And Mighty also won.

"I don't have a big team and he's done such a super job for me in the last 12 months," Noonan said. "It's terrible news."