By Michael Guerin
The cloud of doom hovering over the career of Auckland Cup winner Vincent is clearing.
The exceptional four-year-old is now rated a good chance of racing again next season just weeks after fears he may need to be retired to stud because of a suspensory injury.
Trainer Mark Purdon says the magnificent looking pacer could even be back at the races as soon as early next year
“We are definitely aiming him at getting back to the races, not a stud career,” Purdon confirmed.
“Initially when he got injured it looked like that may not be the case we really feared it might be the end of his racing career.
“But things since then have been far more positive.”Vincent had just won the Auckland Cup and was favourite for the Ballarat Cup and Chariots Of Fire when he damaged his suspensory in late January.
That also ruled him out of the Miracle Mile and he was brought back to New Zealand for a thorough veterinary inspection, which had it suggested he was finished as a racehorse, would have seen negotiations start with stud farms.
“But he has been at the clinic at Matamata and they are hopeful that stem cell injections into the area can help it heal 100 per cent,” explained Purdon. “He has already had one course and is now on his next and apparently the nature of the injury is not as bad as it can be.
“So it is very early days but I’d like to think he will be back racing.”Even all going well Vincent won’t be back to try and thwart stablemate Lazarus’s attempt as a third New Zealand Cup come November or the Inter Dominions in Victoria a few weeks later.
But if and when he does make it back to the track he will add much needed glamour to the New Zealand pacing stocks.
It is almost unprecedented to have so many top horses leave the country or be retired such a short period of time, with Have Faith In Me, Heaven Rocks and Waikiki Beach having left over the summer while Smolda was retired last year.
Add to that the injuries to great mares Dream About Me and The Orange Agent and Auckland Cup runner-up Titan Banner and the cupboard at the highest level is awfully bare.
For once the Australian ranks seem to have more depth, with My Field Marshal there now and horses like Chicago Bull, Soho Tribeca and Jilliby Kung Fu having emerged.
A fully healthy version of Vincent has done enough to suggest he is as good as them and if he can return to the track he remains the heir apparent at Lazarus, who you would have to think would be retired at the end of next season.
One of the genuine class acts to have emerged from the sparse local summer of pacing has been Star Galleria, it blew his rivals away again at Alexandra Park last Friday.
After a roller coaster three-year-old season last term he has developed strength to compliment his raw speed but trainer Steven Reid will not stretch him out to 3200m in the Easter Cup at Addington in a few weeks.
Even though Star Galleria was a brave fourth in the Auckland Cup over that 3200m distance on December 31, Reid will stick to his original plans and aim him at Taylor Mile and Messenger at Alexandra Park in late April and May before the Harness Jewels at Cambridge in June.
With some potential Miracle Mile runner-up Jilliby Kung Fu could be lured to New Zealand for the Jewels a clash between he, Star Galleria and Jack’s Legend would set that meeting alight.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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