Owners of celebrated Hungarian racehorse arrested

The owners of the Hungarian-trained award-winning race horse Overdose have been arrested by Romanian authorities, which raises doubts about the horse's future racing career, a friend of the owner told MTI on Monday.

Romanian authorities have charged Zoltan Mikoczy, an ethnic Hungarian Slovak citizen, and his business partner, a Hungarian citizen, with misleading creditors in connection with their Romanian firm which is under liquidation.

"Hungary has not had a horse like (Overdose) since Kincsem, perhaps it never will," Tivadar Farkashazy, a friend of Mikoczy's and a racing buff, told MTI.

"It is 26th in the world even after its injury and in the top three in its own class," Farkashazy said. "But it is hard to become a global star starting out from Hungary; and in order to keep (the horse) Hungarian, we must pull together," he added.

Overdose is currently in Britain, getting treatment for an injury. It is thought to be able to return to Alag, just northeast of Budapest, and start racing again in April next year at the earliest.

In April this year, Mikoczy announced that it has signed a syndicated agreement with two Slovak citizens on Overdose. However, he said that the horse would continue to be trained by Sandor Ribarszki in the Dunakeszi-Alag Training Centre and race in Hungarian colours.

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