His escape from a lead pony at trackwork brought Heir To The Throne’s preparation for autumn feature races to a premature end.
After the mishap at Caulfield, trainer Henry Dwyer backed off on the half-brother to 2015 Melbourne Cup winner Prince Of Penzance.
Heir To The Throne returns at Sandown on Wednesday in the Le Pines Funerals Handicap (1300m).
The four-year-old was successful over the same course and distance in December before running third over 1600m at Flemington on New Year’s Day.
“He got loose off the pony at Caulfield one morning after his most recent run at Flemington,” Dwyer said.
“He galloped a couple of laps of the track and it took the stuffing out of him.
“Sometimes you can try and go on with them but my experience is they generally take a lot out of themselves and they’re better having a little break.
“He was just getting fit and was going to have a good preparation and then that happened.”
Dwyer said Heir To The Throne had three weeks in the paddock before starting a gradual build-up and a return to his Caulfield stable.
Heir To The Throne had a barrier trial at Cranbourne earlier this month, finishing just over two lengths from the winner over 990m.
“That was to see how his fitness was,” Dwyer said.
“He seemed to pull up pretty well from it which was good.
“It may be a little short and he’s drawn barrier 10 so he may have to go back to last, but hopefully he’ll be strong late.
“If he can win it’d be great, if he can’t he’ll be better second up over a mile.”
Dwyer has no ambitious plans for the gelding who has won three of his 11 starts.
“We missed everything during the autumn carnival that we were hoping to get into, lower level Listed races and that sort of thing,” Dwyer said.
“Maybe something in Adelaide if it presents itself over a mile to 2000 metres, that might suit.”
