Anthony Butt with Make Way, who will be scratched from Melton on Saturday night.
Poor Make Way: now he’s got a sore throat - but Ants says he’ll bounce back quickly
By Barry Lichter • 1 October 2020
Make Way will not start at Melton on Saturday night after going off colour in Melbourne.
Trainer Sonya Smith and partner Anthony Butt were happy with the way the horse travelled from Sydney but after a couple of days of being off his feed they called a vet this morning to check him out.
“He’s got an inflamed throat and some gunk down there,” Butt said. “It’s not like him not to eat and it’s obviously hurting him to swallow.
“He could go round on Saturday night but you’d risk flattening him. It’s a shame as his work before we left home was really good.”
Smith and Butt have made Melton their base for the next few weeks, staying with a dozen horses at Sandy Kilgour’s property, originally set up by former top Kiwi horseman Bob Cameron and leading owner Kypros Kotzikas.
“He’s been here before so he settled in well but then we get this hiccup.”
Butt had been hoping Make May’s troubles were behind him after first a lingering foot abscess then a bad cold kept him sidelined for the last three months.
“He’ll come right pretty quickly but I’m not sure if there’s a race for him next week with the Victoria Cup and Vicbred two-year-old finals on. Hopefully we’ll find a nice race for him in the next fortnight.”
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Nathan’s comments
Wednesday night at Cambridge
Race 1: Lincoln Maree
5.11pm
“She’s finding her feet and was a bit unlucky at Taupo. She put in a few rough ones out of the gate - she was like that early in her prep and could just jump out of it - but she’s generally doing things right now. She trained well on Saturday and, with the right run, could run top three.”
Race 3: The Night Fox
6pm
“He won really well on the second day at Hawera and if he races anything like he’s training he’ll be hard to beat. He ran a 27.3 quarter during the week and I was just sitting on him. I’ll tell Craig to go forward, set an even tempo and cut him loose at the 600. I think he’s our best of the night.”
Race 6: Lincoln Lover
7.35pm
“Hopefully he’s improved since Taupo when Fergie drove him a treat in front. I actually think he’s better coming off something’s back but I’ll leave it up to Fergie. He’s up a bit in grade but has the right draw to be in it all the way.”
Ray’s comments
Friday night at Auckland
Race 5: Lincoln Wave
7.32pm
“He had an easy run last week and he can go a lot faster than that. He should be hard to beat. It won’t matter if he doesn’t find the lead from six, he’ll be just as effective coming from off the pace. He’s a pretty classy horse, classier than most of those against him.”
