Trainer Brendan McShane almost didn’t see a tiny lesion on Hot Dipped’s leg that led to a season-wrecking discovery.
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“It was hidden under the fluffy hair of winter,” McShane explained.
“She wasn’t lame so I wasn’t looking for anything but it caught my eye while she was being shoed
“It’s only a minor lesion and it’s not bad but it’s there so we had her leg scanned and it showed a small bow in the tendon.
“The lesion is the tear and it fills up with fluid.”
The injury is in Hot Dipped’s nearside foreleg and will keep her on the sidelines for six months.
“That’s the sensible option,” McShane said.
“Today, she’ll start on the cold water treadmill at an extremely slow speed to keep the swelling out.
“Then after a month she’ll do rehab.
“It will be a long process but we think she’s worth the effort.”
McShane said that the timing of the injury meant Hot Dipped would miss most of her four-year-old season.
“It’s disappointing but we’ve seen enough to say that there is still more (wins) to come,” he said.
“I always thought that she’d be at her best as a five and six-year-old.”
Hot Dipped was to have had her second start after a spell at Flemington on Saturday. She was beaten a short half head at Caulfield 25 days ago when resuming.
The mare has won eight of her 13 starts and been beaten only once on home soil in the Tasmanian Oaks.
She is hot favourite to win Tasmania’s three-year-old of the year award for 2016-17.
APPEALS UPHELD
Spreyton trainer-driver Steve Davis has won his appeal against a three-month suspension.
Stewards found Davis guilty of driving in a manner that “unlawfully advantaged another horse” in a race at Devonport on June 30.
The specifics of the charge were that, while driving Shanghai Knight, he allowed the horse to shift out approaching the bell which enabled stablemate Ima Ginger Rogers to get away from the pegs into clear running.
Davis told the Appeal Board that his horse was tiring and at no stage did he pull on the reins to make it move up the track.
In its finding, the board said it was not satisfied to the required degree that Davis had deliberately shifted up the track therefore it could not sustain such a serious charge.
Reinsman Robert Walters also won an appeal against a 12-race date suspension.
Stewards charged Walters over his drive on Wrongly Accused at Mowbray on April 28 when they alleged he erred by racing outside the leader applying pressure in an “extremely fast” race.
However the board found that the pace was not extreme and Walters was merely driving to “reasonable instructions” from the trainer.