Highly-rated stayer Maluckyday will not return to racing until next spring.
Trainer John Hawkes said the 2010 Melbourne Cup runner-up had overcome a bout of pneumonia which forced him out of this year’s spring carnival.
But he said the five-year-old would not be seen in the autumn with connections keen to give him every chance to return to his top.
“He got pneumonia,” Hawkes said on Sky Racing’s Off The Rails program.
“He’s recovered now and he’s at Talwood Park in Melbourne with Peter Morgan just going through the different stages and he won’t be seen until next spring.
“Whether he’ll ever get back to where he was, only time will tell. But he was one super horse.”
Maluckyday rose through the ranks in the spring of 2010 winning his way to the Melbourne Cup with dominant victories in both the Tattersalls Club Cup and Lexus Stakes before beating all but Americain in the Melbourne Cup.
He failed to produce his best in three runs in the Sydney autumn earlier this year and was ruled out of the majority of this year’s spring carnival due to illness.
Hawkes, who trains in partnership with his sons Wayne and Michael, describes Maluckyday as “perhaps the best stayer I’ve ever trained” and hopes the son of Zabeel is able to return to his best next season.
“It would be great to see him back because he’s one really, really good horse,” he said.
AAP TURF
