Racing: Race days all over for Tickle

SYDNEY - The fine race mare Tickle will undergo a leg operation today after breaking down in the Doomben Cup at Brisbane.

There were originally fears the Matamata-trained Tickle might have to be put down after jockey Scott Seamer pulled her up early in the 2200m group one event on Saturday.

But trainer John Sargent said yesterday Brisbane veterinarians had determined that the main bone in the injured leg was intact.

"They are going to operate tomorrow and they will be able to save her for breeding," he told NZPA.

"She broke her sesamoids around the fetlock, but the main bone is still there and they are going to put in a titanium plate in and fuse it together.

Seamer told Sargent received a knock at the start and stumbled. "She only got around the straight the first time and had to be pulled up," the trainer said.

Tickle won the Lord Mayor's Cup at Eagle Farm last month in the first run of her Australian campaign.

The 4-year-old Danasinga mare was owned Mark and Cath Lupton, of Matamata, Melbourne lawyer Terry Read and London solicitor Gary Howes.

They only recently exercised a right of purchase of $60,000 to buy Tickle after racing her on lease from Wellington breeder Jim Barlow.

Sargent, who trains most of Barlow's horses, said his good mare Bhandara had been sold to Australian bloodstock agent Dean Fleming, who has also recently purchased Starcraft's dam Flying Floozie and former New Zealand Oaks winner Bramble Rose.

"It's a shattering blow for the owners, but at least she can be saved for breeding," Sargent said.

Tickle would be boxed in Brisbane for six months and the owners might consider breeding from her in Queensland, he said.

She won eight races from 20 starts, including the $40,000 Matamata Breeders Stakes at her last New Zealand start.

The A$500,000 Doomben Cup was won by the New Zealand-bred Perlin, who races out of transtasman trainer Graeme Rogerson's Melbourne stable.

Perlin was bought at the Karaka yearling sales by Cambridge trainer Brian Jenkins, who sold him to prominent Melbourne businessman Lloyd Williams for about A$200,000.

Perlin, by Carnegie out of My Midnight Madam, was beautifully ridden by Danny Nikolic, who celebrated by proposing to girlfriend Victoria Samba immediately after the race. Samba said yes.

The Rogerson-Williams-Nikolic team then combined to win the Rough Habit plate with Activation, who now looks a strong candidate for the Queensland Derby in two weeks.

Activation is by Zabeel out of the fine mare Coogee Walk.

Cambridge trainer Margaret Falconer had a winner at Flemington on Saturday, when the 4-year-old O'Reilly mare Salsa won a fillies and mares race.

Falconer transferred Salsa to Victorian trainer David Bourne a few months ago.

- NZPA