An untimely hoof abscess has forced defending champion Catch A Wave out of Saturday night’s Group 1 Len Smith Mile at Menangle.
Catch A Wave, an eight-time Group 1 winner with earnings over $2.2 million, returned to his dazzling best winning from an almost impossible position at Melton last Saturday week.
But the six-year-old was lame this morning and trainer Andy Gath said he needed treatment for a hoof abscess.
“He’s out. It’s a shame because an abscess can burst and they can get over them quickly, but it’s too close to a race where he has to travel so far by road (from Melbourne to Sydney) and be there early to go into the (pre-race retention barn).”
Catch A Wave needed to travel tonight (Wednesday).
“It’s frustrating because we’d had some issues with another hoof after the (Brisbane) Inter Dominion and had just got him right again,” Gath said.
“That win at Melton last time was up with the best he’d ever gone and, although he’d drawn wide this week, we felt we had him back to his best for the race.”
Gath said attention now turns to the hometown $250,000 Group 1 Victoria Cup at Melton on October 18.
“If he recovers quickly enough, there’s a $50,000 free-for-all at Melton on Saturday week, but will play that by ear,” he said.
