Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

Kannemeyer still has plenty of faith

Noordhoek Flyer will be rested in advance of the Cape’s Sizzling Summer Season.
Trainer Dean Kannemeyer said yesterday that after the running of last Saturday’s Grade 1 Champions Cup, jockey Karl Neisius had reported that the three year old colt had coughed a few times at the pull up.
“When a top horse has shown what he has on the racetrack and then has absolutely no kick when called upon like he did on Saturday, then it does not take rocket science to tell us that something is amiss. I have had him scoped and the procedure showed evidence of mucous on the lungs. The lung-wash also came back positive and confirmed a low-grade lung infection.He did not bleed and he is on a course of routine antibiotics. He will now also be given a rest, before returning as a four year old to target the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate and the J&B Met, the latter run over a relatively easy 2000m,’’ he said.
Difficulties facing trainers
Kannemeyer said that this case once again illustrated the difficulties facing trainers, owners and punters when assessing a horse's prospects in a well publicised build-up to a race: “He had put up terrific track work in the lead up to the Champions Cup. His bloods were perfect and he was eating well. This infection is something only the demanding stress and pressures of a race would expose in a thoroughbred racehorse,’’ he pointed out.
When asked about his rest, he said that he would not be placed on a farm: “Geldings and fillies are one thing, but throwing a colt on a farm can have negative behavioural and emotional consequences. He could develop bad habits from the distractions and raised testosterone levels of being in that environment.’’
The Kannemeyer philosophy has always been underscored by patience and it is an approach that has paid handsome dividends with fifty Group winners in just over ten years.
Kannemeyer said everyone should remember that horseracing was a sport of wonderful highs and testing lows and that he was fortunate to have good owners behind him who both understood the game and the foibles of the thoroughbred racehorse:
“Disappointment and high expectations put great pressure on all of us. But Lady Christene Laidlaw shares our aspirations of achieving the very best for Noordhoek Flyer.
“He is a horse with a stallion’s pedigree and I stand by my opinion that he is a genuinely brilliant miler and we will be back to win more races,’’ he said.

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