By BARRY STREET
Takanini trainer Bruce Wallace sees no end to the battle he has been having to get Able Master back in the form that won him last year's Auckland Cup at Ellerslie.
But hopes that the rugged Zabeel gelding might overcome a tendon sheath problem were raised somewhat on Saturday when he finished third at lucrative odds in the $55,000 Jim Martin Building Rotorua Cup.
Nobody expected much of Able Master in the group three 2300m after a lead-up of only two 1600m races and in ground much deeper than he likes.
"I didn't think much of his chance, either," Wallace admitted yesterday, "although I deliberately didn't scratch him because I felt that, at least, the wet track wouldn't put any pressure on his damaged tendon sheath.
"I also took into account his finishing second in a Metropolitan Handicap on a soft track in Sydney and being placed as a 3-year-old on softish footing at Ellerslie."
Wallace said he had been hoping for good footing at Rotorua after giving Able Master a rushed preparation, including an "upside-down," gut-tearing run on the pace in a premier-quality 1600m at Te Rapa.
Now, much heartened by the horse's game late run for third to Watch Officer and Cronus, he will make inquiries today about a flight to Brisbane next weekend and the possibility of a Brisbane Cup attempt early next month.
Able Master's forte, Wallace said, was his stamina for races of between 2400 and 3200m. The Brisbane Cup is the only 3200m race available for him between now and the next Melbourne Cup.
It was last year's Melbourne Cup that caused all the horse's problems. He copped a buffeting on the first Tuesday of last November, lost his regular rider, Grant Cooksley, and ended up with lesions in his off-fore tendon sheath.
It is an incurable injury, Wallace said, much like windgalls that affect jumpers and trotters.
In January last year, Wallace said, everything in the world was rosy. In his stable then were the Auckland Cup winner and New Zealand Oaks winner, She's Country, each with a good three years of further racing ahead of them.
Only a year further on, and both horses had become virtual cripples.
Eight-year-old Watch Officer had a hurdles career put on hold with his win on Saturday.
Takanini trainer Bruce McLeod decided some time ago that, after a second and a fourth in the Rotorua Cup, Saturday's race would tell whether his hardy wet-weather galloper retained enough pace for winter handicap flat races or jumping.
Watch Officer was tried once over hurdles last September and won by five lengths.
He also won with enough authority on Saturday to suggest the $50,000 Crombie Lockwood Cornwall Handicap at Ellerslie on June 4 would offer him just a good a chance and a lot more prizemoney than a novice hurdles at the same Great Northern carnival.
Winning the Rotorua Cup gave 74-year-old McLeod his biggest thrill in more than 40 years of owning and training racehorses.
His previous highlights were Mitchelson Cup and Owens Trophy wins in the 1960s with Tom's Dice and a Taumarunui Gold Cup win with Watch Officer, who has now won 10 times.
McLeod has always made do admirably with a small, inexpensive team. Only last Saturday week he won a class one 1600m for fillies and mares at Te Rapa with a much-improved Plain Jill.
Racing: Creditable third shows Able Master on mend
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