Heartbreak City, runner-up in last year's Melbourne Cup, has been put down after breaking his leg in a gallops accident.

The Tony Martin-trained gelding sustained the injury while working at the Curragh.

Darren Dance , whose Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock syndicate raced the seven-year-old in partnership with the Here For The Craic Partnership, paid tribute to the six-times winner.

"He was down to run next week so Tony took him to the Curragh for a workout and he shattered the leg in the gallop and had to be put down," he told www.racing.com.

"It's obviously not what you want to hear at 3am when I got the call. It's just so tragic because he was such a lovely, quiet animal and he gave us so much joy over the spring."

Heartbreak City won the Ebor at York last year before heading to Australia where he was beaten just a head by Almandin in the Group 1 feature at Flemington in November.

Heartbreak City was last seen when finishing well beaten in the Dubai Gold Cup at Meydan in March and Dance admits his loss is hard to take.

He added: "When you love horses, you feel it because they are part of the family. The worst thing is ringing up the other owners because all of them are dreadfully upset by the news but we are just grateful for the time we had with him."

HONG KONG FATALITY

Another star of international racing lost his life on Sunday morning when Rapper Dragon broke his pelvis in the Champions Mile at Sha Tin and was put down.

The four-year-old won the Hong Kong Derby in March as well as the other two legs in the classic series for his age group. Joao Moreira's mount was odds-on favourite for today's race, which was won by Contentment.

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