John Meade was on Monday night downing a few stubbies and doing bit of dairy work.
The 63-year-old dairy farmer/trainer was doing his best to take his mind off things after experiencing one of his toughest days in harness racing.
Meade was feeling “hollow” after scans confirmed his star trotter Sparkling Success has injured his near front suspensory ligament and is set for a lengthy stint on the sidelines.
“My gut was telling me something was wrong, so I got my vet to check him out. I wasn’t feeling too good when he was scanning him; I’ve seen a few scans in my time, and when you see black holes it’s not what you want to see,” Meade told RSN927.
“It could be a 15-month injury. It’s like getting hit by a bolt of lightning. One day it’s chocolates, the next day it’s boiled lollies; we’re down to the boiled lollies.”
A winner of Saturday night’s Group 3 Maori’s Idol Free For All at Tabcorp Park Melton, Sparkling Success was only days away from heading to America for the famed Yonkers International Trot in New York on October 13 – a race worth $500,000 USD ($700,000 AUD).
“It was that big of an opportunity, I didn’t even dream about it,” Meade said.
“We’re still going to go (to New York). I’m going to front up and tell the people from Yonkers that I’m sorry I couldn’t get here with him; I tried my best.”
Bred by Meade (Great Success out of Diamond Insitu), Sparkling Success has won 17 of his 37 career starts, including the 2016 Group 1 Vicbred Super Series final (for four-year-old entires and geldings) and this year’s Group 1 Pryde's EasiFeed Great Southern Star for earnings in excess of $400,000.
An emotional Meade, who lives on a farm with wife Mary, said: “I love my animals. My mother always told me that if you treat them right, they’ll treat you right. You can imagine how much we love this horse and how much he’s done for our farm and our lives."