A $140,000 horse being flown from Belgium to JFK didn’t make it to the finish line alive.
The pony named Virteuse was discovered dead at a JFK cargo facility shortly after its flight landed yesterday morning, sources told The Post.
The 1-year-old European warmblood, headed to a private owner in Illinois, had been among 10 horses on El Al Flight 831.
He started “kicking forcefully” in his pen about 30 minutes after takeoff from Liége Airport but calmed down only to die a short time later, a source said.
Officials were performing a necropsy on Virteuse at the federal Department of Agriculture’s New York Animal Import Center.
Although it is common to transport horses by plane, “it’s very unusual for something wrong to happen on these flights,” said Long Island horse veterinarian Dr. Nancy Buonpane.