When it comes to veterinary advice and treatment it pays to get the best.
It also pays to have friends. So when your Dad’s life partner is one of the very best New Zealand -based surgeons that is a bonus.
A bonus that might have saved Rubira’s race career.
That high class pacer has been in the spelling paddock and getting ready to start a spring campaign. It could easily have been much more final.
Rubira was fancied by the stable in the Founders Cup in mid March but after sitting parked on what was a hot early pace he usually handles well he faded out rather too badly to be true.
“We knew there had to be something amiss but finding the cause turned out harder than we thought” Nathan said
“We did blood tests that usually show up the problems we expected but they seemed ok. However Barbara thought there was a deeper underlying cause. She decided to do some more digging into the test results”
“Barbara” is Mark’s wife, Barbara Hunter, a veterinarian at the elite Matamata Veterinary Services enterprise and certified by the American Board of Veterinary Surgeons-no mean achievement. She specialises in surgery but also in several other equine fields.
Mark’s wife Barbara proved the value of a Doctor in the House
Her conclusion was that Rubira’s stomach was carrying excess fluid and that was the cause of the Alexandra Park failure.
Had his racing campaign continued- because he seemed ok outwardly and passed the blood tests- it could have blighted his future.
“We decided by then that he was going to miss some upcoming big races anyway so we would put him out and start again. He is not far off resuming work” Nathan said
Meanwhile stable attention turns to the Group 1 Sires Stakes Final for fillies on Friday where former colleague Hayden Cullen ,and wife Amanda,have a warm ($2.60) favourite in Secret Wish a half sister to Chase A Dream. Nathan feels it is not that simple.
“I think of our two Wat Next ($27) has the gate and the ability to use it.She had no luck again last week but Mark felt she could have been in it if she had not got the check. She is thriving. Alecto got knocked over last week too. It was a hard watch that race.”
Nathan reiterated the point he made last week about the odds about some of these fillies.
“As a crop it is quite an even lot and the standouts can change from week to week. Secret Wish is a smart filly but the inside gate could work against her if she doesn’t do it well early. It’s only her second right- handed race and she broke midrace last week (causing Wat Next’s check). She will have to have picked up from the experience during the week and it is a shorter run to a corner this time. So I think there is more than one hope in the race”
Wat Next in particular has had some brutal luck this year. Mark had played a masterstroke to get her into the three wide line on the last lap only to have the unexpected happen with the Secret Wish gallop when she was leading it.
The Harness Millions winner in the spring before suffering a viral setback, Steve and his team will be hoping for a bit of good fortune for a change on Friday.
Pic Rubira Displaying his Talent for Bowing to the Public