Hey Doc to press on towards Newmarket Handicap

Hey Doc will press on towards a start in the Newmarket Handicap despite suffering strained pectoral muscles at his return run at Flemington.

Trainer Tony McEvoy says it is his plan to push ahead and run the gelding in the Newmarket Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on March 10.

McEvoy had been at a loss to explain Hey Doc’s seventh placing behind Redkirk Warrior in the Lightning Stakes on February 17.

That was until the physio went over the four-year-old and diagnosed the muscle soreness.

It is the same injury Black Caviar suffered early in her unbeaten 25-start career.

“I’ve got to go back and watch the start to see if he’s down or anything,” McEvoy said.

“He’s tender in his pectoral muscles.”

McEvoy said jockey Luke Currie had told him Hey Doc’s race was over after 400m of the 1000m sprint.

“At the 600 (metres) he had no horse. That’s not him at all,” McEvoy said.

“We’ve given him a bit of bute to settle the inflammation down and Camille, who rides him all the time, says he’s great.”

While Hey Doc seems fine doing light work, McEvoy is not sure how he will react under race pressure.

“I’ll get the physio back in and if they don’t come right, I won’t run him in the Newmarket, but if they’re fine we’ll press on,” he said.

Hey Doc won the 2017 Australian Guineas (1600m) but as a four-year-old he was brought back to 1200m after three spring starts with the result a Group One victory in the Manikato Stakes.