WELLINGTON - Plans are under revision for star New Zealand galloper Cent Home following his recent setback.
Cent Home missed last Saturday's $100,000 weight-for-age Hawkes Bay Challenge Stakes (1600m) at Hastings because of a muscle injury which surfaced the previous week.
Wairarapa trainer Jim Wallace said the the early indications were that Cent Home was on the road to recovery but the horse's racing options were now being reconsidered.
Wallace said he was not so sure Cent Home would tackle the group one $250,000 weight-for-age Kelt Capital Stakes (2000m) at Hastings on September 30.
Cent Home bolted away with the Kelt last season after being a late and somewhat controversial inclusion in the field for New Zealand's leading weight-for-age event.
The win landed some huge fixed-odds betting plunges but this season the TAB is taking no chances.
Cent Home heads the TAB's fixed-odds market for this season's Kelt Capital at $4. Second favourite at $4.50 is Hawkes Bay Challenge Stakes winner The Message.
"We haven't totally discarded the Kelt but it would be a lot to ask," Wallace said.
"He has missed a race and a week's work and it would be a big step up from 1400 metres to 2000 in group one company."
Cent Home has had one start in the past 11 months. That was in the group two $100,000 weight-for-age Mudgway Partsworld Stakes (1400m) at Hastings on August 26 when he produced a brilliant finishing burst to beat Cheiron.
By winning the Mudgway Partsworld Stakes he became eligible for a lucrative bonus if he could win the other two legs of the Hawkes Bay weight-for-age triple crown. But that opportunity lapsed when he was withdrawn from last Saturday's Challenge Stakes.
Wallace said another change being considered was to gear the horse more towards the Cox Plate than the Caulfield Cup.
The $A2 million weight-for-age Cox Plate (2040m) is run on October 28, a week after the $A2 million Caulfield Cup (2400m).
"The Cox is certainly an option now and the timing of the race might suit him better," Wallace said.
"I think he's earned the right to have a crack at the race."
Cent Home has been weighted at 54.5kg for the Caulfield Cup and Wallace said that race still had appeal.
"We had always thought that the Caulfield Cup would be the race for him this year because he still gets in with a reasonable weight."
The Lord Ballina 5-year-old gelding had his first workout since the injury setback on Monday but Wallace said another workout tomorrow would be more telling.
"There were no worries at all [yesterday] and he seems okay, though we won't know for certain until after he gallops on Thursday.
"But it was a good step in the right direction."
The TAB's fixed-odds market for Kelt Capital is. - $4 Cent Home; $4.50 The Message; $5.50 Aerosmith, Cinder Bella; $8 Integrate (Aus); $9 Cheiron; $14 Cronus, Rijeka, Tall Poppy; $16 Count Chivas, Jolly Rodger; Nothing Lika Tango; $18 Resonare, Zespri Gold; $20 Greene Street; $25 Kingdom Come; $30 Java Siang; $40 Millenium Star; $50 Jetter; $60 Ruakiwi Lad.
There is provision for late nominations for the Kelt Capital. They are due by September 26 at a cost of $562 per horse.
Racing: Cent Home still under cloud for Kelt defence
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