Kauto Star dead: Two-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner put down following injury sustained in fall

The 15 year old had sustained a complex injury

(GETTY IMAGES)

Kauto Star, one of the best known and most revered race horses of the modern age, has died.

The 15 year old was put down after sustaining a complex fracture to the left side of his pelvis and neck in a fall in a paddock, it's been reported by the Racing Post.

Kauto Star won two Cheltenham Gold Cups and five King George races in an incredible career.

Trained by Paul Nicholls and owned by Clive Smith, Kauto Star retired in 2012 after winning 23 of his 41 races and winning well over £2million in win and place prize-money..

Perhaps the steeplechaser's greatest achievement was becoming the first horse to regain the Gold Cup after winning it in 2007 and then 2009 after missing out to great rival Denman in 2008.

Kauto Star went on to pursue a career in dressage with Laura Collett and last December took part in a demonstration on the opening night of the London International Horse Show at Olympia.

Collett said: "It's an honour and a privilege to have been involved with him and had him in the yard.

"It's just horrendous. He was out in the field, the same field he was out in every day, we don't really know what happened, but he injured his neck and pelvis and sadly had to be put to sleep."