A post-mortem examination of Celebre d’Allen, who died on Monday evening having collapsed on the run-in during the Grand National at Aintree on Saturday, found that while his “exercise-associated episode” did not lead directly to the 13-year-old’s death, the gelding’s immune system had been severely compromised, probably by over-exertion in the race, and he died as the result of a severe bacterial respiratory infection that had not been present in blood tests taken on Saturday morning.
The post-mortem, which was carried out at Rossdales, the leading veterinary practice in Newmarket, concluded that Celebre d’Allen contracted pleuropneumonia after Saturday’s race, while “the subsequent onset of sepsis or endotoxaemia [the release of harmful substances into the bloodstream from bacteria was] likely to have been a key factor in the cause of death”.
