Race cancellation major headache for Dickie and his exciting pacer Old Town Road

Old Town Road’s Australian campaign has been put in jeopardy by Harness Racing New Zealand’s decision to can Saturday night’s feature pace at Cambridge.

Trainer John Dickie was relying on the $25,000 mobile 1700 metre Cliff Thomas Memorial to gauge whether the exciting up-and-comer is ready for a two-race tilt in Victoria.

But now the only line he can get on Old Town Road is how he competes in a two-horse workout at Pukekohe on Friday, where he will meet another victim of the cancellation in Copy That.

Dickie mapped out a careful preparation for Old Town Road after his outstanding performances during cup week in Christchurch where he ran supersonic times in finishing an unlucky sixth in the New Zealand Cup and close third in the NZ Free-for-all.

“He’s only a new-kid-on-the-block and I felt he wasn’t experienced enough to race all the way through Christmas, so we’ve waited until this race in the New Year.

“Not being able to race has turned everything on its head and now we don’t know where we’re going with him. He was booked to fly to Melbourne on Wednesday but we don’t know whether to go now because we’re not sure if he’s ready. I needed a race to get a proper line on him.

“If Cambridge wanted to run a four or five-horse race they shouldn’t be governed by someone in Christchurch saying no.”

Dickie left no stone unturned in his bid to fit Old Town Road for Saturday night’s feature, even taking the horse to Cambridge last Thursday to run between trial heats before the race meeting.

“When I went down for the same race last year it was his first time away from Auckland and it got to him, he didn’t score up. I didn’t want that to happen again.”

Old Town Road performed well for Zachary Butcher - accompanied by a galloping pacemaker he paced 2400 metres in 3:05, the closing half in 57 and quarter in 26.4.

Dickie says all he can do now is make a call on the horse’s fitness after tomorrow’s workout.

John Dickie … “the horse’s welfare comes first.”Melbourne or the paddock

“It will either be Melbourne or I’ll have to put him back in the paddock.”

Dickie says he has to decide whether Old Town Road can go into the Ballarat Cup on January 21 underdone with the hope the run would be enough to see him competitive in his main mission, the Hunter Cup on February 4.

“But his welfare comes first. When you’re racing Copy That you could get hurt if you’re not fit. My horse hasn’t had the ringcraft. Copy That thrives on racing - if we did as much as him, we’d faint.”

Dickie says in previous years, before HRNZ’s supposedly game-changing plan to corral horses into different provinces during the year, Old Town Road could have pottered around the Auckland and Waikato over summer.

Now there was nothing for higher class horses in the north until March and even then only the $30,000 Founders Cup and $50,000 City Of Auckland Free-for-all are carded.

“I’ve had a look at the programmes here and there are only lower grade standing starts where he’d be off big handicaps and you don’t even know if the races will be held.”

And Dickie says he doubts many horses could compete off long marks like Copy That has done this summer.

“It was only a matter of time before this started to happen with the lack of horses in the north.”

Jack The Builder dilemma

Dickie is also looking at the dilemma from the other side of the fence, frustrated at what to do now with his exciting four-year-old Jack The Builder.

After just five race starts, and winning his last four, Jack The Builder on R65 was rated one point too high for an intermediate grade race last week.

“He had to stay at home because he would have had to race Copy That. I’m sure he’d compete well but he wouldn’t beat them and could be hurt.

“Where does he go now? Four-year-olds used to have the Taylor Mile and Messenger to aim at but now they’ve turned those into free-for-alls for the cup horses.

“It’s wrong that people are making decisions when they have vested interests in other horses.”