After treatment, the horse was placed on a regime of controlled exercise, and returned to racing in April, 2005. Consequently the horse finished unplaced in a handicap hurdle race and went on to win this past Saturday in his second start back at Haydock .. all this just 51 weeks after his treatment.

"Traditionally this injury has a poor prognosis. Conventional therapies result in a scarred tendon and those animals that do make it back to competition after a lengthy convalescence often don't seem to perform as well and have a high risk of re-injury". said Dr. Roger Smith. Dr. Smith is the professor of equine orthopaedics at the Royal Veterinary College and is working in partnership with VetCell.

"However, the implantation of actual live cells into the tendon lesion, rather than using drugs, for the first time offers the prospect of a return to a fully functional tendon."

Primarily horses which have undergone stem cell treatments in the past two years have been jump racehorses. Now eventers, show jumpers and dressage horses have also started to benefit from the treatment.

VetCell's Dr. David Mountford, said: "Over 100 horses have been implanted using this technique and, looking at the anecdotal results so far, we are seeing well over twice as many animals returning to the racetrack as might have been expected under conventional treatments.

"Mr Cool is the first high-profile winner although other horses have won repeatedly at and above their pre-injury level of performance. We have a number of other high-profile horses currently undergoing post-implantation rehabilitation."

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