The aptly named All But Gone, a horse his trainer Damien Lane thought would not survive let alone race, has scored his fourth win from only nine starts in the Scone Country Cup.
Under champion country jockey Greg Ryan, All But Gone ($10) beat the $4.60 favourite Sahara Chill by 1-3/4 lengths in Friday’s $60,000 race over 1400 metres.
“It was only an afterthought to run him in this race,” the Wyong-based Lane said.
“He won a class three at Mudgee and went up six points which made him a bit hard to place and this race was never really an option.
“However Greg (Ryan) suggested we run him because he thought it would suit him and again he proved right.”
Lane had high hopes for All But Gone as a two-year-old.
“Then he developed a really bad case of scours and we spent a fortune with the vets but they could not cure him,” Lane said.
“Finally they suggested I turn him out and see if nature could cure him.
“I took him up to a mate’s placed at Coonamble and put him in a paddock, patted him and wondered if I would see him again.
“It took 18 months but gradually he got better.
“He was a bag of bones when I took him up there and we thought he was gone, hence the name.”
