The report from Kranji on Monday indicated that 2011 Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) winner Rocket Man was on the edge of possibly not running in the Kris Flyer International Sprint (G1), a race he won a year ago.
Rocket Man won the Lion City Cup (G1) on 29 April, his first start since a second in the Dubai Golden Shaheen behind Krypton Factor, and trainer Patrick Shaw indicated a similar situation existed before that win.
“The swelling has been there for a while now and we have been keeping a close eye on it,” Shaw said after trackwork on Monday. ”We had him scanned and x-rayed last week and he’s going for another scan [yesterday].”
“It really is just day to day with him. I put a bit of work into him on two days running last week and he seems OK at this stage. Touch wood we can get him to the race, but what I don’t want to happen is to see him pull up lame in the races. This is one time I wash I was a journalist rather than a horse trainer.”
If he lines up, this would be the fourth consecutive KrisFlyer where the Viscount gelding made a start. He was second in 2009 behind Sacred Kingdom, and again in 2010 when heavily-favoured, beaten by Green Birdie. 2011 was the big year, hosting both his wins in Dubai and here on home turf. He has 20 wins from 27 starts with five seconds, and both of his non-placings came last season, one in Japan, and the worst in Hong Kong, when 12th in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint (G1).
