David Pipe's promising hurdler Bobby Ewing collapsed and died on the gallops on Saturday morning.
Last seen when beating the top-class Menorah by 10 lengths at Doncaster in December 2009, he was bought for £60,000 by the Just Good Friends partnership with an injury in the hope that he would be coaxed back to his best.
Pipe had issued several upbeat bulletins on his progress and had been preparing him to make his comeback at the Cheltenham Festival, where he held entries in the Champion and World Hurdles.
Pipe tweeted: "Very sad news, Bobby Ewing has collapsed and died on the gallops this morning of a heart attack."
