Two victories on his home track on Saturday had Pukekohe trainer Nigel Tiley pleased with his day's work, but it was the sight of promising four-year-old Demonetization completing a three-quarter pace gallop earlier that morning that put the biggest smile on his face.
The All Too Hard entire was on track to
start one of the favourites in last season's Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) when
he suffered a stress fracture to a hind fetlock shortly after winning the Gr.2
Auckland Guineas (1600m).
Sent straight to the spelling paddock, the winner of three races from just four starts has been given plenty of time to recover from the injury, with Tiley taking a cautious approach to his comeback.
"We have been very careful with him right throughout the recovery process and we are not about to rush into anything at this stage," Tiley said.
"He has had a couple of issues with his feet which has meant we have had to back off him a little along the way.
"He was ready to have his first proper gallop last time when he had the problem, but it worked itself out after a couple of quiet days, so I think he is back on track now.
"He went three-quarter pace on Saturday morning for the first time and pulled up really well. It was nice to see him get through it and hopefully we can get a full gallop into him shortly.
"The good thing is that he doesn't carry much condition, so I do think he will come to hand fairly quickly."
Whilst Demonetization holds a nomination for the Group One features on the last two days of the Hawkes Bay Spring Carnival, Tiley is in no hurry to push him towards those events.
"We nominated him as more of a precaution than anything else," he said.
"If he had come to hand quickly then we would be heading to the Windsor Park Plate on the second day but at this stage I'm not sure if that is how things will pan out.
"We know we have a very exciting stayer on our hands so we're going to be guided by his progress rather than rush him to get to a specific race.
"Ideally I think he will be at his best over 2000m and there are plenty of features around that mark later in the year."– NZ Racing Desk
