Eurozone was found to be lame following the 2014 George Ryder Stakes at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday, but trainer James Cummings has confirmed that the talented colt has taken no harm from the run and remains a chance of having another race start this campaign.
Eurozone remains a chance of having another race start during the 2014 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival. Photo by: Steve Hart
Eurozone finished at the tail of the field in the George Ryder Stakes and originally looked as though he didn’t handle the track, but a veterinary examination after the race found that the son of Northern Meteor had injured his heel during the running of the Group 1 event.
“His heel dropped onto his race plate when he blundered at the 700 at a similar stage to where Red Tracer dipped quiet badly,” Cummings told Racing Ahead.
“Jim Cassidy was of the view that the horse didn’t handle the ground, but once the dust settled it was evident that not everything worked out for him.
“Once the farrier fixed him up he was trotting out 100 percent and we are going to go over him one more time and just finalise the plan we have with the owners before we let the punters know what we are going to do with him.”
Eurozone has been included in the nominations for the Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m), Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) and Group 2 Royal Sovereign Stakes (1200m) during The Championships and Cummings did not completely rule the three-year-old out of a tilt at one of those races in the next three weeks.
Cummings said that he will discuss a number of options with connections in the coming days, but said that the Group 1 placegetter would not contest the Doncaster Mile at Royal Randwick on April 12.
“There is a chance (that he will race on this campaign), but I would say you can rule out the Doncaster,” Cummings said.
“Everything is still under consideration.
“Everything else is good and he appears fine; he ate up well overnight.
“You can put a line through the run.
“There was zero exertion up the straight so it’s not going to take as much physiologically out of him as a normal run would.
“Things can go wrong at any time.
“We have got him right and we will discuss with the owners what we do and where we logically go from here.”
