Triple Crown winner Abashiri was rushed to a veterinary hospital after the Vodacom Durban July on Saturday afternoon, very lame near fore.
Owner Adriaan Van Vuuren and trainer Mike Azzie with Aba
A while after Mike Azzie’s runner had returned to the unsaddling enclosure following his unplaced run in the big race, Azzie noticed that he was sweating up and battling to stand on his near-fore leg, incidentally the same foot he’d injured before the Classic earlier this year.
Azzie told www.turftalk.co.za on Sunday afternoon: “Abashiri was five out of five lame and we got him to the vet immediately.
They gave him anti-inflammatories, scanned the leg and bandaged it heavily. The good news is that no fractures were found.”
Andrew Fortune – Greyville is shocking
Azzie said that Abashiri was thankfully walking sound on Sunday morning and that the suspicion is that he’d jarred himself up badly during the running of the race.
“He was off the anti-inflammatories, had no pain and was walking fine again, but we’ll see tomorrow. First we’ll hope that he still walks fine and then the bandages will come off. Once they are removed we can make a further assessment.”
Meanwhile, veteran jockey Andrew Fortune, who rode Samurai Blade in the July, has said that he enjoyed the experience, but that the track was ‘shocking’ and that Gold Circle needed to sort it out.
“It was my first ride there in Champions Season – they really need to sort that track out,” said Fortune.
