NZ HARNESS NEWS
The connections of three-year-old speedster Alta Maestro have a difficult decision to make in the coming few days.
After he was pulled up in the $225,000 Sales Series Final at Alexandra Park on New Year’s Eve, trainer Robert Dunn set about finding out what was wrong with his star.
“When he ran 41 lengths last the start before, I had a feeling it might have been his wind, but when we scoped him there was no inflammation or any signs to suggest so.
“This time it was the same, but Blair Orange, who was in front of him, said he heard him flip his palate twice during the race.”
There are two options for Dunn and connections to consider – fitting the horse with a Cornell Collar, or laser surgery on his airway to fix the soft palate dorsal displacement.
A Cornell Collar stabilizes the larynx in an upward position during strenuous work whereas the surgery is relatively noninvasive and has a recovery time of days, not weeks, but only has a 60% success rate long-term.
“We have to decide which one we want to go with and I’ll sit down with Johnny (Dunn) and the Leadleys in the next few days when I get back to Christchurch and we’ll make the call.
“I’ve had an incredible success rate with wind operations in my stable; probably 90 to 95 percent of them being perfect results.”
Alta Maestro has the Northern Derby back in Auckland on March 9 and the New Zealand Derby at Addington on April 6 has his next two targets.
Successful, complication-free laser surgery would not impact his ability to be ready for either.
“If we go the surgery route, I am confident he will back in time for both Derbies,” said Dunn.
“It would be lovely to get him back to his best – he’s shown already this season what he can do when he leads.
“It takes a serious horse to get past him when he’s at his best, as they found out when he won the Sires Stakes heat at Addington a few months ago.
“He can roll along at 28 quarters pretty easily and most horses will struggle to get beyond his wheel.”
But the lead isn’t always there for Alta Maestro and the result has been some rather inglorious performances when raced in behind or parked.
Compounding matters has been a constant and ongoing battle with tying up.
“He’s had tie-up issues all the way through; they’ve been a nightmare for us.
“They’re his worst enemy and can come out of the blue.
“He’ll work or race super and then all of a sudden he’s tied-up chronically.
“In all my years as a trainer, I’ve never seen a horse be effected by it like him.
“He couldn’t walk at one point.”
Alta Maestro has won six of his 16 starts for in excess of $125,000.
NZ Harness News
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