Trainer Anton Golino says he won’t be risking star mare Dance Craze in this Friday’s What The Hill Great Southern Star after she pulled up sore following a scintillating run at Ballarat just over a week ago.
Golino and his training partner Jack MacKinnon have scratched the seven-year-old from the Group 1 series due to a concerning leg issue.
Dance Craze produced some amazing closing sectionals when running fifth in the E B Cochran Trotters Cup on January 23, but will now be monitored for any serious injury.
“She just pulled up a little ouchy there after Ballarat so we are going to miss,” Golino said.
“There’s a little bit of swelling in her leg and we will just wait for it all to all settle down and get her looked at properly. I don’t want to risk racing her.
“She might have strained something I guess. They scanned it and there’s no evident hole or anything like that, but there’s definitely a little bit of heat there, a little bit of swelling (in the) suspensory, tendon (or) somewhere around there.”
Dance Craze, a winner of 24 races and over $550,000 in prizemoney, appeared one of the leading chances in the Great Southern Star, a race she won back in 2019.
However, Golino and MacKinnon still have a good hand in the series, with stablemates Im Ready Jet and Always Ready among the nominations.
Two $50,000 heats of the Great Southern Star will be run early in Friday night’s card at Tabcorp Park Melton before the 10 qualifiers battle it out in the $300,000 Group 1 final later in the evening.
The first three placed horses in each heat will automatically qualify for the final, with the remaining spots determined based on the gross time of each unplaced runner.
