Ray in hospital undergoing surgery after being kicked - Copy That eliminated too

Dual New Zealand Cup winning trainer Ray Green is in hospital undergoing surgery this evening after being kicked in the stomach by a horse.

Green, 77, was taking a cover off a horse this morning when he was kicked and he was taken to hospital for observation.

Lincoln Farms’ business manager Ian Middeton said preliminary advice from doctors was, while there was some bleeding, scans did not reveal any damage to internal organs.

But Green’s wife Debbie said he had since been taken into surgery after concern over continued bleeding and possible damage to his intestine. At 6pm tonight he had been in theatre for three and a half hours.

Earlier, before things took a turn for the worse, the stable’s leading owner Merv Butterworth expressed his concern for Green and his disappointment over Harness Racing New Zealand eliminating Copy That from his scheduled race at Auckland on Friday night because they deemed he was too good for his rivals.

The mobile 2200 metre sprint was to have fitted Copy That for the first of his two Christmas targets, the $50,000 Thames Cup on December 16.

The conditions of the race clearly spelled out field selection would be done from highest rated to lowest.Both Copy That (R120) and Hot And Treacherous (R92) were scrubbed from the field despite the conditions of the race saying the rating 35 and faster pace would be split into three races and selected from the highest rating downwards.

The decision left the race with an eight-horse field and a rating spread of R59 to R74.

Butterworth said the ridiculous situation of the two best horses and potential drawcards for the meeting being eliminated would never occur in Victoria.

“He clearly met the conditions of the race. It makes me wonder what I’m doing racing Copy That in Auckland. If it had been the gallops they’d have been ringing round trainers trying to attract the top horses to the meeting not blotting them out. How can doing this be for the betterment of the sport?”

Karen Blanchard … suggested switching the race to a handicapped stand.Auckland Trotting Club racing manager Karen Blanchard said while she wanted every horse nominated for meetings to get a start, HRNZ had decided it was in the best interests of fairness.

The ATC had suggested switching the race from a mobile to a standing start, so lesser rated horses got a big start on Copy That and Hot And Treacherous.

“But at the end of the day we’re trying to work in with HRNZ and they felt taking the two horses out was the best option.”

HRNZ handicapper Andrew Morris said he’d “heard, anecdotally,” rival trainers would still have withdrawn their horses had the race become a handicap - “and where would that have left the race?”

Special conditions

Morris said special conditions over-rode the published conditions, allowing HRNZ to kick out horses if they were rated too much higher than their opponents.

He had consulted HRNZ CEO Gary Woodham before making the call, he said.

“This has happened before, it’s not new. In the overall interests of the race meeting, not having dominating horses helps attract more betting.”

When questioned why Hot And Treacherous (R88) was allowed to run at Auckland last Friday when it was rated 19 points higher than its nearest rival Taipo (R69) Morris said at least over a mobile mile, runners drawn better were thought to have a fighting chance.

Hot And Treacherous started a $1.50 favourite and scored a convincing win.

Bunty Hughes … Decisions like this are why harness racing is in such a bad state.Bunty hot too

Bunty Hughes, co-trainer of Hot And Treacherous, said decisions like eliminating the two best horses at the meeting explained why harness racing was in such a bad state.

“I can’t see why they won’t let them start. Can you imagine the Aussies telling the connections of Winx or Black Caviar they couldn’t start because they were too good?

“I’ve seen them run in four horse fields where they were far too good.

“I’m not impressed at all. I haven’t spoken to the owner yet but when I do and tell him his horse is not allowed to start, he’ll say what’s the point of having a horse?

“It all comes down to a cost on the owners who pay training fees and if their horse is eligible for a race it should be allowed to run.”

Hughes said HRNZ’s shortsighted policy to try to squeeze a few extra dollars in turnover would only end up reducing the pool of horses even further.

“The last time it happened to me was with Ideal Scott. When they wouldn’t let him start for the same reason we sent him to Australia and he never came back. They did me a favour - he ended up winning 22 races and $840,000.”