Sanduree returns in fine form

Midhirst-owned and trained galloper Sanduree has overcome serious injury to find a purple patch of form.

Trained by Aidan Schumacher, Sanduree had a chunk of one side of a hoof ripped off in a race in which he finished a close third at Trentham in January last year.

If that wasn't bad enough, at the training track a few days later he lost another piece, this time on the "good" side.

"He had no hoof to speak of at the finish so we had to turn him out because you couldn't put a shoe on him because there was nothing there to put a nail in," Schumacher recalled yesterday.

A year off in the paddock allowed the horse to grow another hoof. "He's no good on wet tracks so we just let him out through the winter.

"He's got a good hoof again now."

And it seems the break didn't do him any harm either. Sanduree has now had four starts on the comeback trail, winning twice and finishing runner-up on the other two occasions.

Schumacher hasn't made any firm plans for Sanduree, saying the horse hasn't got the best confirmation in the world and prefers tracks with a bigger circumference.

Meantime, Henree, a stablemate and half-brother by His Royal Highness of Sanduree, was a last-start winner against rating 80 company when fresh up from a six-month layoff at Wanganui early this month.

Schumacher said Henree had thrived since his Wanganui win and the race at Ellerslie would be his first right-handed.

"We thought we'd take him up there to see how he performs that way round," said Schumacher, who races both Sanduree and Henree in partnership with his brothers Brian and Kieran.

The brothers will be represented at Saturday's Taranaki Thoroughbred Racing premier raceday at Pukekura Raceway by The Caribbean, an impressive last-start maiden winner on the New Plymouth course on January 21.

The Caribbean is prepared for the Schumachers by Wayne Marshment at Wanganui. The horse is expected to line up in the special conditions maiden race on the Taranaki card.

- © Fairfax NZ News