Wagga trainer Chris Heywood and his stable are mourning the loss of Class Clown.
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Heywood lost his stable star on Wednesday after a severe case of colic.
He was operated on twice this week in a bid to save him but it was unsuccessful.
The seven-year-old won 10 races from 41 starts and earned $175,000 in prizemoney.
Heywood is devastated by the loss.
"When I got the phone call on (Wednesday) morning it nearly crushed me, to be honest," Heywood said.
"Not just because he's a good horse to me, but he's got personality. He's one of the big characters of the stable. So to lose a special horse like that, that I've had from day dot, is not nice.
"I'm devastated."
Class Clown was bred by Young's Craig Hardy and was raced by he and Heywood.
His last start was a victory in the Parkes Cup in May, where he claimed back-to-back wins in the feature race.
Class Clown had been sent to the paddock with the Snake Gully Cup at Gundagai in mind.
Heywood said Class Clown leaves him with a lot of fond memories.
"He's won 10 races from 41 starts. There's not many horses these days with a benchmark that can win 10 races, let alone one in four so that's a pretty good effort," he said.
"Obviously the Gundagai Cup was nice. Two Parkes Cups. I'm happy to forget the Wagga Gold Cup, he also ran third in a Country Championships heat. He won at carnival time twice. He was very versatile.
"He's been a very good horse to me."
Class Clown not only won 10 races but also placed a further eight times from 41 starts.
He won from 1400 metres to 2000m and won from the front and behind.
His Gundagai Cup win in April booked him a place in this year's Wagga Gold Cup, where he suffered interference and ran last.
Heywood rates Class Clown as one of the best horses he has trained.
"He's up there in the top notch of horses I've had," he said.
"They don't get much better than him. To win almost $200,000, he's definitely in the top five horses I've ever had."
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