Perfect comeback tipped
Staph infection horse poised to bounce back from tennis ball lump
John Sargent is hoping a horse who had a nasty staph infection – which caused a lump “half the size of a tennis ball” – can bounce back to his best in a Sunshine State mission on Saturday.
Perfect Thought looked set to have a big future when he won the Carbine Club Stakes at Flemington in 2022 and ventured north for the 2023 Queensland winter carnival and finished second behind Kovalica in the Queensland Guineas.
Kovalica then went on to brain his opposition in the Group 1 Queensland Derby.
Sydney trainer Sargent had spring carnival aspirations with Perfect Thought until a medical drama hit the son of So You Think.
“I put him out for a spell after the Guineas as I honestly thought he would be a horse for the spring in Melbourne,” Sargent said. “But he then got a bad infection and he had to go out for a break again and we were behind the eight-ball.
“It was staph infection to the side of his jaw, it was the size of half a tennis ball and he had to go on hard drugs and it knocked him around.
“Whether it was from a spider bite, I’m not sure, I don’t know what caused it.”
Perfect Thought hasn’t been the same horse since and he hasn’t looked like winning in recent times in Sydney.
An attempt to race him over 2000m at Randwick last start didn’t produce the goods and Sargent is now convinced the gelding who races in the famous Saintly colours is best suited over 1600m.
Group 1 winner Sargent will deploy Perfect Thought at Eagle Farm on Saturday in the Open Handicap over 1600m in an attempt to get him back to form. Perfect Thought has performed well at Eagle Farm before with the runner-up finish behind Kovalica.
“I’d like to see a form change because his work has been very good, it’s up to him to produce it,” Sargent said.
“I thought he would have been back in form by now, but he hasn’t been, so hopefully a trip to Brisbane can change things around.
“He’s been running OK in his races but I don’t think he is a 2000m horse, I tried that last start.
“His best two runs have been over 1600m, when he won the Carbine in Melbourne and the second placed finish in the Guineas.
“From a nice gate on Saturday he will roll forward and he has run well on the Eagle Farm track before.”
Damien Thornton will ride Perfect Thought on Saturday and the Sargent-trained galloper is rated a $4.60 chance to bound back to form with a win.
Sargent is likely to have a small team for the looming Queensland winter carnival including three-year-old Waverley who is a Group 1 Queensland Derby prospect.
Waverley finished runnerup in the Geelong Classic last October but then sustained a gash to his leg and was spelled.