Sore eye won’t crack the Egg
THE Chris Waller stable is extremely confident Egg Tart will take her place in Saturday’s $ 1 million Epsom despite stewards revealing she wouldn’t have been cleared to start had the race been run yesterday.
Egg Tart has developed an irritation to her near side eye since her first- up second in the Theo Marks Stakes earlier this month. Racing NSW vet Craig Suann inspected Egg Tart yesterday and found the mare’s eye to be quite painful and in a condition whereby she would not have run if the Epsom was on yesterday.
Egg Tart will be monitored daily in the lead- up to the Epsom but Waller’s racing manager Charlie Duckworth is upbeat she will be right to go on Saturday.
“I will be amazed if Craig Suann found reason for her to be scratched,” Duckworth said.
“Eyes are very sensitive but with them being very sensitive it also means they are incredibly quick to heal.
“We have another 96 hours between now and the race and I’m sure it won’t be an issue at all. If it had been we wouldn’t have been accepting.
“If we didn’t have to notify the stewards and it wasn’t a Group 1, then she would probably go around on Saturday and everyone would be none the wiser.
“But we are just doing the right thing and letting everyone know exactly where we stand and she should go around from a gun barrier with a very good jockey on board.”
Duckworth said punters could rest assured the condition hadn’t affected Egg Tart’s lead- up to Saturday’s race.
“There has been absolutely no work missed whatsoever,” Duckworth said.
“She galloped ( yesterday) and galloped on Saturday at Rosehill and she hasn’t missed a single day. This was always the target and it is the exact same route as Winx ( in the 2015 Epsom), even down to having an exhibition gallop the week before the Epsom.”
Egg Tart remains a $ 5 second favourite after drawing barrier one yesterday.
Favourite Happy Clapper firmed from $ 4 into $ 3.60 after drawing barrier four.
Happy Clapper’s jockey Blake Shinn, who celebrated his 30th birthday yesterday, said the barrier draw was a nice present.
“I’m happy with that,” Shinn said. “He has drawn very favourably in four, he has tactical speed and he will get every chance.
“I was happy with one to 10 and that’s somewhere in the middle, so it’s good.
“He sat three ( pairs back on the) fence in the Doncaster, he was midfield the other day, he was 1- 1 when he won first- up at 1400m, so he will be in a position where I want him to be.”
Only two horses have won the Epsom with 57kg this century — Racing To Win ( 2006) and Winx ( 2015) — but Shinn doesn’t expect Happy Clapper’s 57kg impost to stop him.
“Compared to the rest ( of the field), he is well in,” Shinn said.