Australia's pacing queen is coming back.

Fears Ladies In Red’s injury would prompt her retirement have been quashed by owner-breeder Bill Anderson.

Anderson, who was on a cruise with wife Anne when they got news of Ladies In Red’s injury, said there was “no thought at all” of sending the champion mare to the breeding barn.

“No, she’ll be back. We’ve got enough broodmares and she’s still got some racing to do,” Anderson said.

“She needs three months in a box, so the Brisbane winter, which had been a plan, is out. We’ll target races like the mare’s triple crown again and the Victoria Cup late next year.”

Anderson stressed the injury was only minor.

“It’s a small hairline fracture. They could have done plaster, but the other option was putting in two screws, the second one just to make the fracture didn’t ‘run’,” he said.

“We had Left In Paris come back from a much worse break and win good races.”

Ladies In Red stamped herself as Australia’s greatest modern pacing mare with 27 starts for 22 wins, five seconds and $896,520 in earnings.

She would’ve been contesting the Vicbred 4YO Mares’ series now were it not for the injury.

The Andersons still have plenty to look forward to in feature races while Ladies In Red is sidelined, largely due to Honolua Bay and the brilliant juvenile School Captain.

“We were thrilled with Honolua Bay through the Inter Dominion,” Bill said.

“After he won the first heat at Ballarat, we said to Emma and Clayton we’d be happy if they scratched him from the rest of the series because we weren’t sure how he’d handle the longer races and four runs in a fortnight after the issues he’s had in the past.

“But Emma and Clayton wanted to push on and were confident he’d cope.

“I still can’t get over the second heat (win) when he sat three-wide for so much of the race and still won.”

Honolua Bay went unbeaten through the heats before finishing fourth to I Cast Now Shadow in the final.

“It was a pegs dominated final with the first three all racing against the pegs. Honolua Bay was the first horse home who raced away from the pegs. He went terrific,” Bill said.

Connections are now weighing-up whether to aim at the Hunter Cup or wait and focus on the Miracle Mile.

“He went so well during the Inter Dominion, we’ve got to think about the Hunter Cup,” Bill said.

“Ultimately, we’ll go with what Emma and Clayton think, but it’s tempting to wait for the Miracle Mile, especially now Ladies In Red won’t be going there.”

The Andersons have also opted to be patient with outstanding youngster School Captain.

“He could be going around in the Vicbred (series) now, but Nathan (Jack) wanted to give him a break with some big races early next year,” Bill said.

“He’ll go to the NSW Derby and then Bathurst. We’ve got really high hopes with him.”

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.