Talented sprinter Rebel Dane will miss the 2014 Tramway Handicap at Royal Randwick on Saturday after he re-aggravated a stone bruise during trackwork this morning.
Rebel Dane will miss the 2014 Tramway Handicap after re-aggravating a stone bruise. Photo by: Steve Hart
Rebel Dane was ruled out of the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield last Saturday after he was found with a stone bruise earlier in the week and trainer Gary Portelli thought that he had the son of California Dane close to peak fitness, but told Racing Ahead this morning that the five-year-old had pulled up sore following a testing trackwork gallop at Warwick Farm.
“He has pulled up with a stone bruise again this morning,” Portelli said.
“He re-aggravated it after his gallop this morning and we have to pull the pin on the weekend and get this fixed once and for all.
“We are going to have to back right off now and basically get it right before we start worrying about looking at the diary again.
“He has never had a problem in his life and I think that this was actually the first time that the vet has trotted him up.
“He has been a horse we have had no dramas with and it is a real sensitive pair of his foot, we tried to cover it up and this morning he had his really hard gallop, Blake Shinn came out and galloped him, and he was really happy with him.
“Now that he has cooled down we have had a look at him and you can see that he is getting off that foot.”
Rebel Dane will miss the Tramway Handicap on Saturday and will be unable to defend his title in the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on September 28, but Portelli is still hoping that his star galloper will be able to return to racing during the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival.
Portelli is eyeing the Group 1 Manikato Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley on October 24 with Rebel Dane, but will make sure that the stone bruise is completely healed before he considers a return to racing.
“I am hoping not and at the back of my mind I am thinking that I can get him right and maybe have a crack at the Manikato again,” Portelli said.
“That is about six weeks away and there is still a chance that we will be alright by then, but it is still going to be another week of doing nothing with him and just walking him and working on this bruise.
“It will be five weeks before I can run him again with this problem.”
Despite the withdrawal of Revel Dane, the Tramway Handicap is still set to feature a stellar field with Group 1 winners Tiger Tees, Rising Romance and Lucia Valentina included in the nominations for the $175,000 event.
