Comeback on cards for Mufhasa
TWO-TIME New Zealand horse of the year Mufhasa is poised to race on as a nine-year-old.
Speculation was rife that managing part-owner David Archer would retire the 10-time Group I winner after the Pentire gelding bled and pulled up lame in the Group I Champions Mile in Hong Kong in May.
At the time Archer told Fairfax “It’s a very emotional time but we’ll do the right thing by Mufh. He’s an eight-year-old and he’s bled.
“We’ll make the right decision to look after Mufhasa but we won’t be making any announcement in the next 48 hours till we get home.”
However, Archer has revealed Mufhasa is back in work in Pukekohe and there is a chance he could resume racing in the Group I $200,000 Makfi Challenge Stakes (1400m) at Hastings on August 31.
“Mufh is in superb condition and after input from all of his vets in Melbourne, Hong Kong and here in New Zealand, we are allowing him to train up for a possible last campaign which could see him at Hastings for the Makfi,” Archer said.
Mufhasa was fourth in last year’s Makfi Stakes, having won the race in 2011 and finished second in 2009.
It’s been a tumultuous season for the Mufhasa camp, after Archer acted to transfer stables from Auckland’s Stephen McKee, who had guided the galloper to all his big wins, to fellow Auckland trainer Bruce Wallace in a move to keep the horse associated with his strapper Amy Doran, who had fallen out with McKee and left his stable.
Soon afterwards Mufhasa un- derwent a tie-back operation in Sydney to correct an epiglottal entrapment in his throat, which had caused him to run well below his best in the Group I Chpping Norton Stakes at Warwick Farm in March.
At the same time he was treated for an ulcer, but he soon bounced back and finished a gallant second to star three-year-old Pierro in the Group I George Ryder Stakes at Rosehill, prompting Wallace and Archer to press on to Hong Kong.
Archer delayed an announcement on Mufhasa’s future in May after the galloper had been rescoped a week after the Champions Mile and he’d received veterinary advice that the bleed wasn’t as serious as first thought.
Archer said Mufhasa was training out of Pukekohe trainer Gareth McRae’s stable under the guidance of Wallace, with Doran still very much part of the team.
Wallace was soon to shift his training base from Takanini to Byerley Park and having Mufhasa based at Pukekohe would prevent any disruption to his routine, Archer said.
“The Pukekohe location has been decided by Bruce to enable Mufh to continue walking from his stable to training each day and to save him the disruption of changing tracks twice in the matter of weeks, given some changes being made at Bruce’s current training establisment.
“Gareth McRae has been wonderfully supportive in allowing Mufh to use a box he had free at his place, a gesture which is greatly appreciated.
“While Bruce’s current track and Byerley Park would have been totally suitable for Mufh, we all just thought the disruption to his training regime caused by a second training track change in a short time with so little preparation time ahead of him — should he start again — might not be in his best interests.”
Archer, who races Mufhasa in partnership with his partner Di Wright, son Simon and daughter Natalie, said he was constantly mindful of making decisions in the best interests of his horse.
“We will be monitoring his training, throat and well-being daily and he will only start again if all is 100 per cent and Mufh keeps telling us he is loving his training regime and does not want to spend his time eating grass just yet,” Archer said. “The number of starts, if any, will be closely monitored. The decision on his future is still ahead of us and it will only be made in his best interests.”
Despite being an eight-year-old, Mufhasa continued to gather bigrace scalps this season, winning the Group I Windsor Park Plate (1600m) at Hastings last September and the Group III Manawatu Challenge Plate (1400m) at Awapuni in December.