Stable back in racing mode

BACK in racing mode for the first time in three weeks — a seeming eternity — Archie Alexander is grateful for small mercies.

Quick action to alert Racing Victoria to a strangles outbreak on September 1 and the immediate removal of several horses from his Ballarat stables meant Alexander was spared a longer ordeal.

The ban on Alexander’s stable was lifted on Friday, paving the way for Wheal Leisure to race at Caulfield on Saturday.

And although the mare beat only a couple home, Alexander was delighted to be back.

“It’s great, a big relief,” he said. “It’s three very, very long weeks, but the owners have been really, really good.

“The staff chipped in really well. It was no one’s fault really and we had to do the right thing.

“We gave the vet a headsup and asked him to come and have a look and it was pretty clear it was strangles.

“There was only one horse infected, but there were a few others who we suspected who actually weren’t infected.

“The good thing is that we got them out very quickly.

“We’ve been shut down for 21 days, which is pretty good when other people have been shut down for 4½ months.”

The interruption means Alexander’s winter plotting has gone to waste.

“Basically the whole spring is not going to be easy, so nothing is going to be ideal for horses such as Wheal Leisure and Lord Fandango,” the trainer said.

“Everything is not wound up, but what do you do?

“It’s a shame when you sit down in July and you have a perfect plan for all these horses and then three weeks get taken out of it.”

Lord Fandango, fourth in last year’s Caulfield Cup, will resume in Friday’s 2046m Benalla Cup.