Scope on Thursday will decide if Copy That contests Victoria Cup after minor bleed

Copy That is on a nebulizer and being treated with colloidal silver in the hope he can still run in Saturday night’s A$300,000 Victoria Cup despite having a minor bleed last night.

Trainer Ray Green wasn’t concerned watching Copy That weaken to fifth in the Smoken Up Sprint, given he sat parked all the way and driver Nathan Jack didn’t even pull the plugs.

And Green said there was no sign after the race that anything was amiss as, once back in the barn at Melton, the horse recovered just as quickly as he usually does.

Green actually questioned why the stewards wanted to scope the horse afterwards as part of a vet check, but is now glad they did, with the discovery of a grade two bleed.

An equine nebulizer, like the kind Copy That is now using.“As far as bleeds go it’s minor, nowhere near what Bondi Lockdown had in the race. He had blood pouring out his nose and has been stood down for three months.”

Green said Copy That is not subject to any stand down period and if a follow up scope on Thursday is clear, the horse could still contest what has been his sole aim this campaign.

“I’ve made numerous inquiries about what we can and can’t do before the race and we’ll do all we can to help the horse.

“He’s already on a nebulizer and getting colloidal silver which is one of the greatest natural antibiotics in the world.”

The nebulizer works like an inhaler for human asthma sufferers and turns liquid medicine into a fine mist delivered directly into the horse’s airways.

“The key is to clean up his lungs and make sure the airways are clear. A week isn’t a long time but we can medicate so he can expel the debris in his lungs.

“It takes time for lesions and scar tissue to completely heal but we’ll see what the scope shows on Thursday then make a decision on whether to start.”

Quiet week

Green said Copy That would lose nothing in fitness by having a quiet week.

“It will be business as usual this week, we won’t be drilling him, he’s not the sort of horse who needs that.”

Green is confident Copy That is now at peak fitness. Owner Merv Butterworth, like Green, wasn’t worried watching the race.

“I thought he was under pressure turning for home and Nathan let him coast home,” Butterworth said. “It would have been nice to win but it wasn’t the target.”

Green said Jack reported he couldn’t beat his rivals after his parked trip and didn’t want to make it a hard race for the horse.

“I wasn’t too concerned about the result. As I’ve said before, these races are all lead-ups.

Ray Green: “Managing bleeding is not an easy task, particularly at the level he’s racing at, but there’s a strong chance we can do it.”“Nathan and I talked about not wanting to be locked into an early burn, like in his first start, but it’s never ideal to sit parked.

“Things went according to plan for the winner, they walked and just sprinted up the straight, not even from the quarter. That horse Torrid Saint is very fast and Copy That was never going to run past him on a 26.6 last quarter.”

Green was philosophical about the fact Copy That had run into a late issue and reasonably buoyant about the future.

“Managing bleeding is not an easy task, particularly at the level he’s racing at, but there’s a strong chance we can do it. At least we know what we are dealing with.

“It answers a few questions. We’ve not scoped him every time he’s raced, nobody does that. But looking back over the last couple of years it’s possible he has bled before, who knows?

“Bleeding is a lot more prevalent than most people want to address. If they’d scoped every horse that raced last night they’d probably have found 20 bled. No blood is usually visible, most bleeders swallow it.”

Green said proper management of bleeders was crucial as scar tissue was weaker and could make the horse more vulnerable in the future.

Green questioined why trainers weren’t allowed to do more to help their horses, instead forced to send them to the United States, like recent bleeder Lochinvar Art, who can race on lasix which is legal in many states.