Clarry Conners acknowledges Decision Time is coming to the end of his career but dearly wants to see him go out on a winning note.
The trainer thought that could have been in the Ramornie Handicap at Grafton earlier this month but the veteran sprinter was a late scratching from the Listed race after an incident with a shoe.
“He pulled the plate off in the mounting yard and instead of them re-shoeing him there they made him go round to the barriers,” Conners said.
“But he has equilox filling in the hoof and by the time he got to the barrier there was none left so they couldn’t put a shoe on it.
“It’s just another thing in racing.”
Runner-up in the 2010 Golden Slipper, Decision Time is scheduled to go round in the July Sprint (1100m) at Canterbury on Saturday, as long as the track improves from heavy.
With warm weather and strong winds on race eve, Conners us hoping it gets to the soft range.
“We will make the decision late,” Conners said.
“I don’t think we really want to run him on a heavy track so I’m relying on Canterbury to dry out.
“He’s terribly well and I’m very happy with him and it would be great to get another win with him before he retires.
“It’s close and it will only get harder for him from now on with all the good horses coming back.”
Decision Time made a winning debut in January 2010, but various injuries have restricted his career to 45 starts so far.
His $1.6 million prize money makes him king of the Conners stable and he is the No.1 personality.
“He’s such a lovely horse. Everybody loves him and he loves stable life,” Conners said.
“When he does retire, and that will probably be soon, he will be going to live with one of the staff.”
