Country trainer Daryl Archard knew a comment made to a fellow horse person would come back to bite him.
His stable star Leveraction has had a trouble-free career but a recent joint strain has forced Archard to sent the gelding to the paddock.
“It always brings you bad luck when someone asks if he’s always been sound,” Archard said.
“He’s never been lame in his life since we’ve had him and I thought at the time that this might come back to bite me on the bum.
“And it has.”
Archard had Leveraction entered for a 1600m benchmark 90 race at Flemington on Saturday for which he was topweight with 60kg but the trainer wasn’t happy with him after a jump-out at Echuca on Monday.
“We thought we had him pretty right this morning and decided to give him a good hit-out but we weren’t happy with him after the jump-out,” Archard said.
Archard said Leveraction would go for a good spell before being brought back into work after the spring.
His absence leaves four horses with 59kg topweight in the Flemington race – the Darren Weir-trained Refulgent and Royal Rapture, Pin Your Hopes from the Mathew Ellerton-Simon Zahra stable and the Simone Ferchie-trained Lord Durante.
It also means Tasmanian Jerilderie Letter is guranteed a start in the 16-horse field.
