KEY POINTS:
Fans of exciting four-year-old pacer Runnin Outa Excuses should not be concerned by his scratching from today's Invercargill meeting.
He will be back at the same venue in three days time.
Runnin Outa Excuses would have started a warm favourite - even against some smart open-class opponents - in the $20,000 Cup Prelude today but trainer Kirk Larsen says he will allow the horse to miss the race.
"There is nothing seriously wrong with him, just a small bruise on his leg," Larsen said last night.
"He banged it last week and I have had it scanned and it really isn't an issue.
"But I only wanted to line up him up once this week as a lead-up to the four-year-old race at Forbury Park next week.
"So once we had his leg treated I thought it was better to wait until Saturday."
Runnin Outa Excuses was going to take on the likes of Roman Gladiator this afternoon but instead of taking on similar class horses in the Invercargill Cup on Saturday he will tackle another race.
"There is a race for pacers with up to five wins for him there on Saturday," Larsen said. "The cup was never on his programme, even if he had started on Wednesday and won."
With Runnin Outa Excuses out of today's feature event, the backmarkers make the most appeal.
Roman Gladiator was a brave second in the feature race at Invercargill's Ascot Park track two weeks ago, just going down to Cup class pacer Bondy but can go one better tomorrow.
Roman Gladiator is suited by the small field and with several handy stayers in the race he may get the right cart into the finish.
Gimme A Break looks a solid each-way hope, particularly as he can make a very fast beginning. He may settle closer in the running than many would think from his 20m handicap after being freshened since a fair run from a backmark at Ashburton last month.
Pacific Reign, who rarely goes a bad race and finished a close fourth to Bondy, is another who must be included for trifectas.
- NZPA
