KEY POINTS:
An injured Sir Slick is due to get back into the swim this afternoon.
The horse that keeps turning heads injured the heel of his off-side back leg when he repeatedly kicked out at the concrete wall of his tie-up stall at Te Rapa on Saturday after taking fright when he got his tail caught under a plastic water pipe.
It was a scary conclusion to his stunning victory in the group-one $150,000 Whakanui Stud International only an hour or so earlier.
Sir Slick will this afternoon do some work on the underwater treadmill at Te Aroha featured in the Weekend Herald.
The multiple group-one winner does two or three sessions on it each week and it will be perfect work in the next few days because the water pressure will take considerable weight off the affected leg.
Trainer Graeme Nicholson does not expect the injury to affect Sir Slick's preparation for the $150,000 Otaki Maori WFA at Otaki on Saturday week.
"At the moment he's pretty tender on the heel, but he'll be okay," said Nicholson.
Jokers Wild will continue his preparation for his clash with Sir Slick and possibly Darci Brahma at Otaki despite a lacklustre sixth, 4.3 lengths behind Darci Brahma on Saturday.
Rider Michael Coleman reported to stewards that Jokers Wild held his breath for much of the second half of the $150,000 Waikato Draught Sprint.
The horse's manager, Paul Moroney, said the only explanation was that the tongue tie Jokers Wild had been wearing for the last 12 months had been applied too tight.
"He came back with a cut tongue and it looked to us as though he's objected to the tightness of the tongue tie and fought it.
"Although he hadn't completely displaced it, he had moved his tongue sufficiently to probably get it back a bit and restrict his breathing.
"Michael said that a couple of strides after the finish he spat out this huge breath."
Moroney said the stable could find nothing else amiss with Jokers Wild.
"He's pulled up with everything at 100 per cent. His joints are fine, he ate everything after the race and there are no signs of distress.
"He'll go to Otaki because while we're fairly sure we know what went wrong on Saturday, we have to be 100 per cent certain he's at his best before we'd consider putting him on a plane to Melbourne."
Xcellent had a date with the equine swimming pool yesterday afternoon after rejoining the stable late last week.
The outstanding galloper was on the walker over the weekend and Moroney said the horse looked in fabulous condition to begin a comeback preparation after stem cell implants.
"He won't have a saddle on him until March 1, but once he gets under saddle, the vets have told us, because of the work he's done to this point he should be only four weeks away from speeding up in his work. He looks very bright in the eye and in the coat."
Moroney said that the outstanding galloper would be taken along cautiously, but if everything went perfectly there was a chance Xcellent could be at the Queensland winter carnival.
