Group One-winning sprinter Foxwedge has been cleared to return to training but he has almost certainly run his last race in Australia.
Trainer John O’Shea said Foxwedge had recovered from a throat infection although plans to run the Royal Ascot-bound colt in the BTC Cup in Brisbane next month had been shelved.
“He’ll have a barrier trial now before flying out on the thirtieth (of May),” O’Shea told AAP.
The countdown to Foxwedge’s overseas campaign will start properly when he returns to O’Shea’s Randwick stables later this week.
“It was just an allergy and he’s alright now … he’s scoped clean,” O’Shea said.
The ailment helped explain why Foxwedge ran the worst race of his career when last of six runners to Master Of Design in the TJ Smith Stakes.
He was aiming for a second straight Group One win after claiming the high-profile scalp of Hay List in the William Reid Stakes at Moonee Valley.
“He had a week in the paddock (after the TJ Smith) and he’ll be back in the stable on Friday,” O’Shea said.
Foxwedge, who has been sold to become a foundation sire at Newgate Farm in the NSW upper Hunter Valley, is being set for the Group One King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 19 with Nash Rawiller the colt’s confirmed rider.
The King’s Stand will be the fifth leg of the Global Sprint Challenge.
The son of Fastnet Rock will be retired to begin stud duties at his new home at the start of the 2012 Australian breeding season in September.
O’Shea, meanwhile, will have three runners at Randwick on Saturday but he will be an onlooker when it comes to the four Group One races.
Instead, he will rely on Iggi Pop (Frank Packer Plate), Bound To Blush (James HB Carr Stakes) and Elite Falls (Hall Mark Stakes).
Elite Falls will be on a seven-day back after finishing unplaced in the Group One Galaxy while O’Shea is hoping Iggi Pop can enhance his Queensland Derby prospects.
