A bleeding attack has left the racing career of Group One winner Pressday in doubt.
Pressday bled from both nostrils in the Sebring Sprint last Saturday, earning an automatic three-month ban from racing.
But trainer Chris Waller hinted the four-year-old’s absence from the racetrack could be permanent.
“I haven’t spoken to the farm (Eliza Park Stud) to see what their final decision is,” Waller said.
“But it could possibly be that he will be retired.”
Pressday finished towards the tail of the field in the Sebring Sprint after travelling kindly for Jim Cassidy.
“I was so happy with his work before Saturday, I thought he would return to his best form,” Waller said.
“It’s a shame … we never got to see the best of him.
“Obviously as a two-year-old he was very impressive but it looks like we might not get to see what he can do as a mature horse.”
A $38,000 graduate from the Inglis Classic Sale, Pressday has banked almost $850,000.
Last year’s Group One T J Smith Stakes at Eagle Farm ranks as the most important of the entire’s five wins.
He also saluted three times at Group Two level, including a tenacious victory in the Sandown Guineas at the end of the Melbourne spring carnival.
Waller was aiming Pressday at next month’s Epsom Handicap ahead of a possible Cox Plate start.
Eliza Park announced in June it would stand Pressday at stud from 2012.
AAP TURF
