Trainer Robbie Griffiths is confident a minor internal bleed suffered during the running of Monday’s Listed W.J. Adams Stakes (1000m) at Sandown will not affect The Quarterback’s overall campaign through the Autumn Racing Carnival.
The Quaterback suffered mild internal bleeding during the Listed W.J. Adams Stakes on Monday. Photo: Adrienne Bicknell
Jumping from the gates only fairly, The Quarterback immediately dropped to the tail of the field of six and was unable to beat a single runner home despite leaving the gates an outright $2.60 favourite for success.
Appearing unfazed by the lacklustre result, Griffiths said that while unfortunate to have put in a poor performance in just his fourth start since a freshen-up, The Quarterback has bled internally several times previously and is already showing signs he will be fine for a return to competition as soon as February.
“Post-race he was scoped on course by the Racing Victoria vets and was found to have a degree of internal bleeding there, so not enough to cause us great concern moving forward but it certainly affected his performance yesterday,” Griffiths told Racing Ahead.
“He can do that – he has done that before and unfortunately for the punters and followers every now and then he’ll put in a fizzer like that and it’s more than likely going to be the same type of post-race report.
“He’s eaten his dinner last night, he’s quite bright this morning and I don’t think it will affect us. He could do a complete form reversal going into his next run, whenever that is we’re not sure yet – we’re just going to see how he trains.
“Possibly an Oakleigh Plate (February 28th), possibly a Lightning Stakes (February 21st) or possibly even just having a little break, it’s a bit too early to sort of re-design exactly where we’re heading next.”
Securing six race wins over a 16 start career which has also included five finishes in the minor places, The Quarterback performed well for Griffiths over the 2014 Autumn Carnival; placing third in each of the Group 3 Manfred Stakes (1200m) and Group 3 CS Hayes Stakes (1400m) before a luckless run for eleventh in the Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) on March 1st.
Returning to competitive form over three proceeding starts in autumn, the Street Boss gelding placed second in a minor over 1110m at Sale on the 1st of October; progressing to victory in a BM90 Handicap (1300m) and sixth in the Lavazza Short Black (1400m) on Melbourne Cup Day.
