NZ HARNESS NEWS
Brilliant Canterbury mare Nek Time has suffered a serious injury for the second time and her connections have made the tough call to retire her.
“Unfortunately, she broke down in work yesterday morning,” said co-trainer Glenys Chmiel, who prepared the daughter of Gotta Go Cullect in partnership with her husband Terry.
“It’s a hind suspensory again, but this time it is higher up and I don’t think it’s worth trying again with her.”
Nek Time had an excellent three-year-old season, winning the Southland, Gold Coast and Queensland Oaks, as well as setting a New Zealand record for 2400 metres at Winton.
But she missed her entire four-year-old season after injuring her hind leg in a suspensory ligament and when she resumed at Ashburton on Christmas Eve, it had been 23 months since her last start.
“Her suspensory was pretty mangled the first time around, but it did repair,” said Chmiel.
“This time it’s in a different area and it’s quite bad so it’s just not worth it to try and bring her back again.”
The Chmiels undertook a long, slow build-up to get Nek Time back to the track, with most of 2017 spent gradually building her up to race fitness with strength in her leg.
“It’s pretty gutting.
“We knew in the back of our minds she was a day-to-day proposition, but it probably hurts more this time around after all the time and effort we put in to her to get her back.”
Chmiel says it’s too late to put Nek Time in foal, too.
“It’s probably not worthwhile putting her in foal this year, so we will let her recover and then get her to the stud nice and early next season.”
Bigger picture, it’s a tough pill to swallow for the Chmiels, who really only have promising three-year-old Nota Bene Denario to hang their hat on at the moment.
“She’s left a pretty big whole in the stable, that’s for sure.
“It was hard to get back out there and work the rest of them yesterday morning.
“There’s not a lot there to get excited about, but hopefully one of them will stick their hand up soon.”
Nota Bene Denario, a high-priced purchased by Nek Time’s owners, Robert and Sharyn Symon, in the Spring time, won two races in Southland before Christmas, including a nugget final.
“He’s had two or three weeks out after coming back from down south and is back working up now.
“We will aim him for the big nugget final back down there later in the season.”
While it hurts right now, Chmiel knows in the long run she will look back fondly on their time training Nek Time.
“She won three Oaks and that’s pretty hard going.
“She did us proud and took us to places we’d never been before – she really deserves a nice retirement.”
- NZ Harness News
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