Northview Hustler, with trainer Al Barnes and his son Hayden after winning the Flashing Red last season. PHOTO: Dan Costello.
Today’s X-rays inconclusive so now Hustler’s off for nuclear scintigraphy
By Barry Lichter • 1 April 2020
Lincoln Farms’ flagship pacer in Queensland Northview Hustler will undergo nuclear scintigraphy, hopefully in the next few days, to determine whether he has a hairline fracture.
A second round of X-rays today failed to establish with certainty why the horse has bleeding in his near front fetlock.
And while the suspicion is that he has a hairline fracture, trainer Al Barnes says the horse is too good to be guessing over his future.
“He’s one of the best horses over here and while there looked to be a very faint shadow on the X-rays I want to be 100 percent certain what we’re dealing with.”
X-rays of Hustler’s off side fetlock today didn’t look dissimilar to the affected leg, making diagnosis even more difficult.
Barnes is hoping coronavirus disruptions don’t delay testing the horse at the university where staff numbers might be down.
“To prevent any delays we’ve taken blood from the horse today because he has to be tested for Hendra before having the scintigraphy.”
During scintigraphy a radioactive dye is introduced into the horse and hot spots indicate injury sites where repair is underway.
Barnes says the swelling in Hustler’s fetlock hasn’t reduced in the last two weeks.
“If anything it’s slightly increased but he’s in no pain. He’s sound, happy and bubbly and just wants to get out there and run.
“The vet suggested we might consider giving him three months’ box rest but I couldn’t see the point. He couldn’t give any guarantees that the horse would be right after that because we don’t know for sure what the problem is.
“Horses don’t bleed outside the joint for no reason. It’s normally from a hairline fracture or some other major trauma.
“Hustler is not a horse you want to be guessing with and hopefully we can get it done by the end of the week.
“It’s not such a big deal now that the winter carnival is off and anyway the horse’s welfare comes first.”
More news in Harness
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Sugar Ray signals start of good year ahead with tough win; blinkers for Lincoln Wave
Winners and losers in dates for the new season - your month by month harness guide
Ray: Sammy Lincoln has ‘turned the corner’ and can go on with it on Friday night
Our runners this week: How our trainer rates them
Ray’s comments
Friday night at Auckland
Race 1: Angelic Copy
4.53pm
“She’s done everything right and trialled really nicely. I think she’s forward enough to give some cheek. She’s only small. You like to think when you get a good two-year-old like her that they’ll get stronger and transition into a nice three-year-old but she hasn’t grown an inch. But she tries hard and enjoys being out there.”
Race 2: Major Copy
5.28pm
“I’m looking forward to seeing him. You never really know ’til you get to the races but he’s trialled well enough to start and I wouldn’t be surprised if he went a good race, despite the draw. He’s a nice sensible colt who’s done nothing wrong and he could develop into a really nice three-year-old.”
Race 6: Lincoln Wave
7.22pm
“He was starting to get into the habit of switching off so we trained him in blinds this week and he went pretty well. He was good from a standing start at the trials with shorteners in and Maurice was actually quite bullish about his standing start manners and thinks that, in time, he’ll end up being a quick beginner. If he steps well, and can land in the first one or two, he’ll definitely be hard to get round.”
Race 6: Sugar Ray Lincoln
7.22pm
“He’s not spectacular from a stand but he will get away, albeit sometimes a bit slowly. Lincoln Wave has more speed than him but if it comes down to a slugfest he’d be too strong as he’s rock hard fit.”
Race 8: Prince Lincoln
8.23pm
“The blinds go back on this week and if he steps and leads like he did three starts ago that would make him the one to beat. He showed with that win that he’s above average and will be a serious chance.”
Race 8: Rivergirl Bella
8.23pm
“You could argue she’s a Cambridge horse but sometimes when you throw them in with the bear cats they lift their game and I thought she was really good here last week. Tony (Cameron) said she’d have finished a bit closer too if he hadn’t had to take hold of her close to home (when he ran out of room and hit a marker pole).”
Race 8: Sammy Lincoln
8.23pm
“We’ve got blinds on him this week. Harry said he lost concentration a couple of times last week, including at the top of the straight, and thought he’d be a bit more on to it with blinds on. I still thought his was the run of the race last time - none of the others could have done what he did - and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him score.”
