Summer the new target for Dolcetto

A FOOT ailment is likely to curtail the spring programme of the rising central districts star Dolcetto.

While not career-threatening, the injury is likely to prompt trainer Sylvia Kay to give the five-year-old a break before building toward summer targets.

“He had seedy toe and the farrier dug it out and had to go quite a way up and the horse was a bit tentative, but he’s coming right,” she said.

The condition, a separation of the hoof wall, came to light after Dolcetto’s last gallop.

Kay believes the horse will return before the end of the year.

Ladbrokes $500 Sign Up Bonus

“He’s had a week off now and it might be a good time to give him another three or four weeks off and then come back for the Christmas racing and in January.

“He’s still young and we don’t want to push him too much. There’s so much good racing coming up and he can still go in handicaps.”

Dolcetto has won seven of its 10 starts, including the last five in succession, which culminated in its group three success in the Boehringer Ingelheim Metric Mile at Awapuni.

The horse is something a legacy to the stable, and while Kay no longer has Dolcetto’s mother Our Shiraz, she does have three other family members in her care.

“I’ve got a two-year-old sister to Dolcetto that’s been broken in and turned out – she’s a lovely filly,” she said.

“There’s also a yearling half-sister by Nadeem and a Road To Rock who’s turned four. He had a jump-out the other day and he’s a big horse who hasn’t got the speed, but we hope he will make a nice stayer.”

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments