Overdose (foaled 2 April 2005 in Nottinghamshire, Great Britain) is a Hungarian Thoroughbred racehorse. As of November 2011, he won all but 3 of his 19 races. He is English bred and was sold at Tattersalls December Yearling Sales in November 2006 for just 2,000 guineas. His sire was a sprinter called Starborough and he was out of Our Poppet (IRE) by Warning. He is a half-brother of three winners. The owner, Zoltán Mikóczy bought Overdose only by chance. He has been quoted to say I just put my hand up for fun, I like excitement of the horse auctions. I thought no horse can go this cheap and surely somebody else would bid. Hes short and Id say kind of ugly, so of course nobody wanted him. Overdose has an unbeaten series of 14 races. In these races he has won with a total of 116,5 lengths, which means 8,3 lengths per race in average. He has run a new track record at his home track (Kincsem Park, Budapest, Hungary), for his first ever race (which he has won with 18 lengths). In 2008 he was named Wunderpferd (wonderhorse) in Germany, for winning German sprint races – including the Group 2 Goldene Peitsche – in such a dominant style. He has won a Group I race at Longchamp, but unfortunately the race was declared void due to a non opening gate. His time was only 0,1 second behind the track record of Habibti. He has not participated in the re-run at the end of the day, since his unbeaten record was in risk. Only a month later Overdose has won a Group III race in Rome, with a dominating 10 lengths. In the 2008 world thoroughbred rankings Overdose has been amongst the top sprinters (4th at Timeform with a rating of 126, and 6th at IFHA with 120), despite he has not won a Group I race (at least not officially). In 2009 Christophe Soumillon volunteered to ride the horse that year. After his year opening race at Kincsem Park, Budapest, Overdose was called the Budapest Bullet in Britain, and has appeared on the cover of the New York Times, which named him the Hungarian Seabiscuit. In mid-2009 one of his hooves got inflamed, which resulted in laminitis. This brought his whole career in danger. His recovery lasted for 15 months. Overdose has returned in July 2010, with two victories in Bratislava and Budapest, growing his unbeaten record to 14 races. He has lost his unbeaten record in his 15th race under disputed circumstances. In Germany, Baden-Baden, the starter has waited eight minutes to get him into the startbox. During this time his rider Christophe Soumillon has fallen three times off his saddle. This procedure resulted in a hopeless race for him. Although he has led to 1000 meters, Overdose has lost too much power when entering the startbox, therefore he was unable to keep the pace in the last furlong, and finished only seventh. Professionals says that the German starter was under great pressure, since Overdose’s comeback has been in the centre of the communication of the racetrack’s actual festival (the Grose Woche), and the stands were full, since everybody was keen to see Overdose. After this race the horse has suffered another, but minor injury, which resulted in the miss of the remaining of the season. In 2010 he has started the season in Berlin, Germany, with a dominating victory, and has ran a new track record. This was the season-opening raceday of the track, and there has been full house. After this great result Overdose has been the favourite of all British bookmakers for both of his forthcoming races in the UK: the Temple Stakes and the King’s Stand Stakes. On the day of his long waited first race in Britain, Overdose has appeared on the cover of four newspapers. Second time on Racing Post’s cover that week (the first occasion has been his arrival to Britain). He was in the centre of the television broadcast as well. Unfortunately Overdose’s travel took three days from Hungary to Britain, and the five days he spent in Britain before the race was not enough to regenerate. Maybe this was the reason why has he only become seventh by four lengths behind the winner in the Group II Temple Stakes. But the team knew, there is more in him, therefore they have stayed in Britain, to prepare him for the Royal Ascot. After the Haydock race Overdose has been able to regenerate during the remaining three weeks to his Royal Ascot race. He was not a favourite anymore. He has started the Group I King’s Stand Stakes on the lead, and has run head by head with the Hong Kong superstar Sweet Sanette in the forthcoming furlongs. In the end Overdose has finished fourth, only a length away from the winner, and a neck away from Sweet Sanette. The remaining horses has been more than two lengths away from the winning four. After the race the officials of the Ascot Racecourse said that they have never seen a horse performing in such a high level after suffering laminitis. Another minor injury has resulted in the miss of almost all races of the autumn season, and Overdose was able to race again in November only: the second time in Rome, and the first time with Frankie Dettori. This time Overdose has won with only a half length, but he was spared, Frankie has not asked more from him. In February 2012, Overdose has suffered a serious injury at Meydan Racecourse, in the very beginning of the 2012 Dubai Racing Carnival. His comeback is expected to early 2013.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 19:21:54 +0000