Dennis Dunford would love to start his millionaire pacer Have Faith In Me in his home-town Cup on New Year’s Eve, but more than anything he wants a healthy horse first.
And even though Dunford has all but given up hope on his pride and joy starting in the $250,000 Auckland Cup, there is a minuscule of hope that vets in the Waikato can get to the bottom of his problems and he could still by some miracle line up.
“Vets in Canterbury have tried everything and he is now in Matamata where he is expected to be having a complete and thorough dye scan throughout his body starting yesterday (Monday) at 9.30am.
“It will be a very extensive procedure. I’m just hoping they find something because he hasn’t been right this season. We have gone from hero to zero haven't we?” Dunford said.
Dunford owns the 5-year-old Bettor’s Delight – Scuse Me gelding with his son Mark. They had their greatest racing joy on December 31 last year when Have Faith In me proved too smart for Hughie Green and Smolda in the 2015 Auckland Cup.
“All we can do is hope that the vets up here find something. Something is definitely troubling him. They originally thought he might have had kidney stones.
“He had tests for that two weeks ago but the vets could only view one kidney because the imaging on the left one was blocked by a moving colon,” said Dunford who is a real estate agent in Auckland.
He said he had been told that a Prebbleton veterinarian had noticed that the gelding had been favouring his back leg.
“That might be a reason why he jumped out of his gear during Cup Week, but at this stage no-one really knows,” Dunford said.
“I think it is very unlikely now that he would start in the Cup. We want what’s best for the horse but we are always hopeful,” he added
Meanwhile co-trainer Mark Purdon confirmed that Have Faith In me would under-go an extensive 48-hour examination.
“To be honest the Auckland Cup does look unlikely now. We decided to move him to Matamata for a further stage in investigating what is troubling him.
“There has been quite a thorough investigation in Canterbury by people who know what they are doing but they have not found anything significant. It was thought by everyone concerned that concentrating on a bone scan would be now worthwhile and the horse deserves that we do all we can to find out the cause of the problem” Purdon said.
He said Noel Power (Hamilton Veterinary Services) was a vet of “wide experience” in several countries and Purdon said he had great faith in his work.
“The next stage will be with Noel. It involves using a dye to isolate any bone problems and other irregularities. We are hoping it will help us solve the problem,” Purdon said.
Have Faith In Me opened up a $3.80 favourite for the Auckland Cup before being withdrawn from the betting.
The gifted bay has won 14 of his 26 starts and placed in five others for $1,407,449.
Duane Ranger