Poor Make Way: now he’s got a sore throat - but Ants says he’ll bounce back quickly

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.”