It’s unlikely that high quality mare Nek Time will ever race again.
The Terry and Glenys Chmiel trained four-year-old was set to resume at Addington on Friday night off the back of a strong trial victory at Ashburton last Tuesday but all that was thrown out the window late last week.
After impressing in her trial, Nek Time was completing fast work and Chmiel noticed she was lame in a hind leg.
“It didn’t look to serious, but something was clearly troubling her,” Terry said.
“Our vet happened to be out looking at another horse and she said we should do a scan just to be sure and it revealed that she has a hole in her hind suspensory.
“I’ve got no idea how it happened as it’s not something you usually see with pacers. We just can’t figure it out.”
The prognosis is that Nek Time is a 50/50 chance of racing again, but Chmiel said initial chats with the mare’s owners, Robert and Sharyn Symon, suggested that she may be retired and an attempt may be made to serve her this breeding season.
“She could potentially race again, but I’m thinking it will be unlikely because she is so valuable as a broodmare.
“It’s a bloody shame really because she was going along pretty nicely so the news made for a pretty long weekend.”
It’s a big blow for the Chmiel stable as Nek Time was their flagship horse and she also gave them plenty of highs last season as a three-year-old including wins in the Southland, Gold Coast and Queensland Oaks.
Last season alone she won seven races and close to $140,000 in stakes – not a bad effort considering she comes from the same crop as dominant fillies Piccadilly Princess and Dream About Me.
“She’s the horse that made getting out of bed to go and work the team in the morning easy.
“She’ll be pretty hard to replace.”
The fastest of the progeny of Gotta Go Cullect, Nek Time has a 1:54.7 mile rate next to her name so will be a valuable broodmare no matter which stallion she is sent to.
Matt Markham