Trainer Tony Herlihy has swapped one trotting star with a pedal bone fracture for another as his two top squaregaiters have passed like ships in the night at his stables.
Bolt For Brilliance is now back in work with the northern horseman after missing six months because of injury suffered during the Inter Dominion series in Victoria in December.
But eerily around the same time he was coming back to the stable after recovering from his pedal bone fracture, Herlihy’s other Harness Jewels winner Double Delight was starting her recovery after sustaining a worse pedal bone break in the Rowe Cup on May 26.
“It was a real shame for her and she is going to need a long break,” says Herlihy.
“Her fracture will be harder to recover from than Bolt’s, but we will give her time and one thing on her side is she is only a young mare.”
The good news for Double Delight is if she doesn’t fully recover as a racehorse, she has clearly established worth as a broodmare as a Jewels winner who went on to be a competitive open class trotter at a very early age.
She is, of course, pacing bred being by Captaintreacherous but wanted to trot from her first day in the sulky, so you would presume she would be covered by a trotting stallion rather than a pacing one.
Then again, when it comes to Double Delight and breeding, there appear to be no rules.
Bolt For Brilliance will be taken along quietly by Herlihy, who was always confident his stable star could recover from his fracture.
“His latest scan two weeks ago suggests he is fine, so we will press on and all going well he will make it to Cup week,” says Herlihy.
Bolt For Brilliance would be a welcome return to an open class trotting scene that lacks depth, with Muscle Mountain almost unbeatable when he doesn’t gallop but Bolt For Brilliance proving his equal throughout their careers.
Bolt will return to the track the winner of 20 of his 46 starts.
The opinions expressed in The Forum are those of the author and may not be attributed to or represent policies of Harness Racing Victoria, which is the state authority and owner of thetrots.com.au.