The untapped Atua Magic is the best horse Shane Sanderson has trained, but whether he gets the chance to show it is the big question.
The three-year-old has raced just once in the past 13 months and a series of tests, x-rays and scans have finally revealed why.
“He’s got what they call pods in his fetlock joints, which many vets hadn’t even heard of until recently,” Sanderson said.
“To most simply explain it, it’s like bruising in the fetlocks and it can’t be cured. By that I mean, it’s something the horse will now always have and we will need to manage it and hope to stay on top of it.”
Right now the signs are good with Atua Magic, who raced just six times for three wins and two thirds, including a third in the $500,000 Group 1 Protostar 2YO at Albion Park in July, last year.
He won at Wagga last Friday and steps up in class, albeit with the benefit of barrier one, in the opening race at Melton on Saturday night.
“It’s certainly been a frustrating year for us with him because, on ability, especially strength, he’s the best horse I’ve trained,” Sanderson said.
“After that big run in the Protostar, he just didn’t come back as we hoped. He wasn’t going well, holding his eight or showing his speed.
“It took a long time, but they finally diagnosed the pod when they had a bone scan done on him. On one hand, it’s good to know what’s been troubling him, but it’s frustrating to have a horse with his talent and not know how long you’ll have them.
“He was good at Wagga and he’s the sort of horse who only raced those around him and does what he needs to.
“This is a step-up and he’s raced some seasoned horses, while he is so inexperienced and lightly raced, but the draw (gate one) helps.
“All we can hope is to manage well enough to stay on top of the issue so he can show the ability he’s got.”
Sanderson can take some heart from the fact his former star stable, Dangerous, also has the “pods” condition and he performed well for new trainer Jason Grimson at last month’s Brisbane Inter Dominion series.
“Yes, we had our issues with him, too,” he said. “But it was great to see him run those big races in Brisbane. He’s had a break since and I understand Jason (Grimson) is setting him for the (NSW) Carnival of Cups races.”
Sanderson said daughter Abby did most of the work with the harness horses now the family has spread into pre-training thoroughbreds and even trainer four themselves.
“We’re pre-training 15 and have four of our own,” Shane said. “We’ve gallopers race for us, including Media Brief, who ran second on debut at Gundagai last week and runs again at Wodonga on Monday.”
On the harness front, Abby will also drive their exciting two-year-old pacer Fully Reckless in the Youthful Stakes (race five) at Melton on Saturday night.
“At first we didn’t think much of him because he was a bit weak, but now we did. He’s got stronger and has loads of high speed,” Shane said.
“It’ll be hard from a wide draw in a strong race, but it’ll also give us a line where he measures up. We think he could be up to the better races in coming months.”
Fully Reckless has raced just three times for two wins and a third.
- Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.
