A minor hoof injury has put smart sprinter Spieth in doubt for Saturday’s Group 1 $700,000 Kingsford-Smith Cup (1350m) at Doomben.
The Lindsay Park trained Spieth was regarded as one of the main chances for this weekend’s Queensland Winter Racing Carnival’s weight for age sprint and was marked at $12.
But his chances of taking his place in the final field look dim after co-trainer Ben Hayes revealed that the five year old Thorn Park stallion stood on a nail when one of his shoes shifted while he was working last week.
Hayes, who trained in partnership with his father David Hayes and cousin Tom Dabernig, said that it was highly unlikely that Spieth would recover in time from the minor setback to be fit for the weekend.
A quick recovery is expected though and the stable is confident that he will be right for the Group 1 $1.5m Stradbroke Handicap (1350m) at Doomben on June 9.
“He was going really well, and he just shifted a shoe last Thursday morning and pricked his foot, so we are just monitoring him at the moment,” Ben Hayes told racing.com.
“It’s just a minor setback and it’s just something that can easily happen in training.
“At this stage he is unlikely to run (in the Kingsford-Smith Cup).
“He’s not 100 per cent sound at the moment and he’ll need to improve if he is going to run in that race.
“If not, he’ll just continue on and we’ll run him for the Stradbroke, he’ll be a good chance in that race.”
Spieth has only had one race start for the Lindsay Park Team after being transferred from the Warwick Farm trainer Bryce Heys and the stable was happy with his effort after running on from back in the field to finish fifth to English in the Group 1 $700,000 Kirin Doomben 10,000 (1200m) at Doomben on May 12.
“We were really happy with him in the Doomben 10,000. It was a good run where he got back and hit the line really strongly and Craig Williams was very happy as well,” Hayes said.
Spieth worked his way up through the ranks under the care of Heys before tackling the elite class but was denied a Group 1 win on two occasions by the narrowest of margins when a nose second to Malaguerra in the Group 1 $1m Darley Classic (1200m) at Flemington during the 2016 Melbourne Cup Carnival and then went down by the same margin when second to Terravista in the Group 1 $750,000 Black Caviar Lightning (1000m) at Flemington during the 2017 Melbourne Autumn Carnival.
Speith was unable to regain his best form and was unplaced from his next four starts at Group 1 level with his last run for Heys resulting in a last of thirteen behind Redzel in the 2017 Darley Classic.
Spieth was subsequently sold to Aquis Farm and sent to Lindsay Park to continue his racing career before starting stud duties at Aquis Farm’s Hunter Valley Stud.
– horseracing.com.au
