AIRCREW DESTROY VALUABLE HORSE

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30745, 8 May 1965, Page 6

AIRCREW DESTROY VALUABLE HORSE

Vanderford Berserk And “Nearly In Cockpit”

(N.Z.P.A.- Reuter— Copyright)

SAN FRANCISCO, May 6.

Grew men destroyed with an axe the champion New Zealand pacer, Vanderford, when it went berserk in a cargo aircraft over the Pacific today.

The flight engineer, George Ropcean, said: “I hated to do it. But it was either him or the nine of us on board.”

The rearing, panic-stricken horse had threatened to smash its way into the plane’s cockpit. Vanderford, a five-year-old stallion, was worth an estimated 100,000 dollars. He was one of six horses being flown to the United States after their purchase in New 7 Zealand by a Canadian syndicate, United International Stables.

The DC4 cargo aircraft was cruising at 8000 feet about 600 miles from San Francisco when Vanderford went berserk in its stall.

Ropcean and Don McNutt, the syndicate’s trainer, were trapped by Vanderford's flailing hooves against the door leading into the cockpit. During the 30-minute battle to try and calm the | 11001 b horse, the plane pitched and rolled. Finally, the pilot, Captain Art Bell, gave the order for the horse to be destroyed “for the safety of everyone on board.” Handed Axe Ropcean was handed a crash axe from the cockpit and he killed the horse after throwing a bag over its head. The Pacific Western aircraft, under charter to Flying Tiger Airlines, landed at San Francisco International Airport at 3.40 a m The remaining five horses were unloaded and taken to a nearby stable. McNutt said Vanderford was one of the most valuable pacers in New Zealand.

“He had beaten all the best horses in New Zealand and we planned to win about 250,000 dollars with him this year. He was a beauty.”

“Baby-Sitting”

Ropcean said he was “kind of baby-sitting” with the six horses “when Vanderford slipped or something” “He started kicking and he kicked his way right out of his stall. How, I’ll never know.”

Ropcean said four other members of the crew had tried to subdue the horse, but they could not hold him down. “We got a shot of tranquilliser into him, but it only slowed him down for about

ifive minutes. Then he started up again. “They handed out a crash axe from the cockpit. We got him down again, and I threw a bag over his eyes. I had to : do it.” Legs Over Stall Newton said when Vanderford started getting nervous, “we gave him another shot. But he started to go down on his haunches and would not straighten up. He panicked and jumped forward toward

ithe front of the stall.” > The stallion’s stall was in the front of the aircraft close 1 to the door of the pilot’s compartment. I Ropcean rushed to slam the door. “He got his front legs over the side of the stall and could not go either way. At one time the crew thought he was coming right into the cockpit,” Newton said. i McNutt and Ropcean were the only two in a position to kill the thrashing animal. McNutt had hit Vanderford with

a hammer to stun him and Ropcean then killed him with the axe.

Then Newton, McNutt and three others threw themselves on the heaving stallion to keep him from tearing up the plane. Smelled Blood

“After Vanderford was killed, the other horses smelled blood and became unruly. We were really frightened. But we managed to keep them quiet for the next two and a half hours,” said Newton. The other five horses were taken off the plane at San Francisco and quartered temporarily at Bay Meadows racetrack. Newton said they would be shipped either by truck or train to Montreal or Roosevelt Track in New York.