"If he has come right by then, we can press on and look to race him again. There's nothing really for him at the Cup Carnival, and the Inter Dominions aren't on the radar, so it's probably Auckland at Christmas that will be our target."
Ultimate Sniper has swept all before him this season, winning the Sires Stakes Final, Northern Derby and New Zealand Derby at Group 1 level, as well as the rich Sales Series Pace at Alexandra Park on New Year's Eve to accrue almost half-a-million dollars in prizemoney.
But despite his dominant New Zealand Derby win at Addington on April 5, his connections, including trainers Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen, felt like something wasn't quite right.
He had galloped out of contention a fortnight earlier and lost his undefeated streak when going rough in Auckland last month, too.
"We were a little bit suspicious after watching the last 75 metres of his Derby win," said Kennard.
"Natalie has mentioned a few times that he's felt quite fragile, too.
"We haven't got the full report yet, but his knees are definitely bothering him." Similar issues arose with Ultimate Sniper's full brother, Ultimate Machete, who was recently retired prematurely after suffering another leg injury.
"We learnt a lot from Machete about not going too early with the breed and that's why this fella didn't race until he was three. So, we'll do the right thing by him now and hopefully we will be able to enjoy racing him for years to come."
Ultimate Sniper was the $1.50 favourite for the $150,000 3YO Emerald at Addington on June 1, but his stablemate, Jesse Duke, will now firm in to clear favouritism.
Their stablemate, and last year's Harness Jewels 2YO Emerald winner, Another Masterpiece, was also withdrawn by Purdon and Rasmussen yesterday.
- NZ Harness News
