The harness racing season is over for outstanding filly Park Life. A last start winner of the Gr.1 $322,000 Australian Pacing Gold Fillies Final at Tabcorp Park Menangle last month has been forced to the spelling paddock owing to shin soreness.
The pint-sized Rock N Roll Heaven – Strawbs Interact filly pulled up “a little lame” following some work with trainer Wayne Graham this week.
Initial thoughts were that the filly hadn’t fully recovered from her scorching APG victory where she paced a mile of 1:53.2 – the fastest time recorded by an Australian juvenile this season to date.
But the situation took a nasty turn following some x-rays.
“We sent Nelly (Park Life) to the Gatton University this week for further testing and the scans revealed it was a type of shin soreness. It’s quite bad and she will be out for the remainder of the season, we’re planning on giving her six months off.” Regular driver Shane Graham explained.
It’s a bitter pill to swallow for the Graham family because they have in their care, the two best fillies in the state with Park Life and Jossie James.
With the Brisbane winter carnival fast approaching, Park Life had a number of feature events to contest including the Gr.2 $50,000 QBRED Breeders Classic next month plus the Gr.1 $100,000 QBRED Triad Final in July.
“It’s very disappointing because she is such a good little filly, a real racehorse but unfortunately we had no option but to shut her down otherwise we ran the risk of doing further damage. We will give her as much time as possible and hopefully she’ll make a complete recovery.
“We’re lucky it didn’t happen before the APG series so when you put it into perspective, the timing could’ve been much worse. We got the main race for her this season and now we can look ahead to next season.
“Obviously she would’ve played a major role in the remaining features this term but now it paves the way for Jossie James, the competition will be fierce but we rate our filly and she’ll be hard to beat. I think it would’ve been difficult for Nelly to beat Jossie James if she drew to her outside, maybe they can fight out an Oaks event next season.”
Park Life has a record of 3 wins and 3 minor placings from 6 career starts to date while baking more than $168,000.
Chris Barsby