KEY POINTS:
MELBOURNE - No lameness, no abscess, no problems.
Boom colt Haradasun has thrown off whatever troubled him after his shock defeat at Caulfield last weekend and trainer Tony Vasil is expecting him to be in perfect order for Saturday week's group one Australian Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield where he is set to meet Miss Finland.
Haradasun pulled up lame in one leg and with slight swelling in another after finishing second to Catechuchu in the Schweppervescence Cup (1400m).
The colt had gone out a long odds-on favourite, but after settling near the back failed to catch Catechuchu.
In a dramatic aftermath, stewards grilled Vasil at length over modifications the trainer had made to Haradasun's off side front shoe in response to what he said was slight sensitivity in his hoof.
The stewards maintained that Vasil should have informed them of the apparent problem before the race.
But the trainer pointed to the outstanding sectional times Haradasun had run, finishing off his final 600m in 33.6 seconds, as evidence of his fitness.
Vasil has since taken every opportunity to defend his actions, vowing he would never have taken the colt to the races if he wasn't ready to perform at his best.
At Caulfield yesterday, Vasil was still smarting at the questioning he had endured on Saturday.
As he rode Haradasun off the track after the colt had worked yesterday morning, Vasil declared the horse to be fit and well.
"Does he look lame?" he said. "You saw him work, did he look like there was a problem?"
Haradasun cantered for 2000m with Vasil in the saddle.
Vasil had suggested the horse may have had the beginnings of a hoof abscess, but his choice of the sand track yesterday indicated that diagnosis was probably incorrect.
- AAP
