One of New Zealand's finest race mares Valley Girl has been prematurely retired.
The classy 4-year-old, by Mastercraftsman out of the group three-winning Bianconi mare Leigh Valley, was yesterday found to have a shattered radius bone above the knee.
Valley Girl dropped out of contention in Saturday's $200,000 Makfi Stakes after hanging badly almost from the start of the race. Having won at group one level left-handed at Te Rapa it was obvious that something had to have been amiss on the left-handed Hastings.
"Remarkably, she wasn't lame afterwards," said co-trainer Donna Logan yesterday. "And when she's been trotted up since she's shown no signs of soreness."
But the Logan/Chris Gibbs stable was not about to take chances with such a valuable commodity.