A minor injury to Group One winner Rothfire is not expected to derail his spring carnival campaign.
The gelding suffered some minor cuts to his near foreleg when he became cast in his box overnight on Monday, ruling him out of a jump out at Doomben the following morning.
Trainer Rob Heathcote is taking the mishap in his stride and is confident the gelding will recover quickly to resume, as planned, in the Group Two The Run To The Rose (1200m) at Rosehill on September 12.
“It’s nothing serious and, if anything, I’m feeling a sense of relief because it could’ve been a lot worse,” Heathcote said.
“I’ll try and arrange for him to gallop between races on Saturday or next Wednesday.”
The gelding will be treated with a mild anti-inflammatory and antibiotics as a precautionary measure but Heathcote expects him to make a speedy recovery in a matter of days.
While Rothfire was recuperating at Heathcote’s stable, Queensland’s other headline act, Alligator Blood, ran second in an 850 metre barrier trial at the Sunshine Coast on Tuesday.
The four-year-old settled in fourth place before jockey Ryan Maloney switched him to the outside in the straight and he worked home strongly to be beaten a half-neck by Secret Spirit.
Trainer David Vandyke plans to start Alligator Blood in an 1110 metre Quality Handicap at Doomben on September 12 before he heads to Sydney.
At the Gold Coast last Saturday, Epsom Handicap hopefuls Vanna Girl and Tyzone performed stylishly in a hitout between races.
Vanna Girl finished a close second to the Michael Costa-trained Malahide, while Tyzone was an eye-catching fourth, hitting the line strongly in the final 100 metres.
Trainers Toby and Trent Edmonds will start Vanna Girl in the Group Two Tramway Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on September 5 while Tyzone will line up a week later in the Group Two Theo Marks Stakes (1300m) at Rosehill.
