Injury ends Derby Dreams

The upcoming Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge will be robbed of its gloss with Street Of Dreams a confirmed non-starter.

Long heralded as the four-year-old with the star billing, the promising galloper unfortunately hurt himself after his last race in the Group 1 Kranji Mile on May 20.

The dream was still alive as he enjoyed a soft run in transit while they clapped on the speed up front.

But, when jockey Ronnie Stewart called upon him in the home straight, the response was not the blistering acceleration that hurled him to six wins in a row up until the Kranji Mile. He ran a fading ninth.

Winner Lim’s Kosciuszko was hard to beat, but Street Of Dreams’ fans still expected a closer fight.

The post-race vet report did, however, mitigate the defeat.

Street Of Dreams returned lame and with a respiratory disease.

The latter condition was the more telling factor. It is well documented that it was only after the Steven Burridge-trained and Joe Singh-owned galloper underwent a wind operation that he went on his winning streak.

Such surgeries can, however, literally hang by just a thread.

Burridge was quick to point out that not only was the new issue different, but it was also not the main cause for concern, anyway.

“It’s not the same wind issue. It was actually nothing,” he said.

“But he did do a high suspensory to his off foreleg. He’ll get eight weeks off – the Derby is off.”

The grand final to the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge, the Group 1 Singapore Derby (1,800m) on July 23 was his main objective from a long way out.

The comeback series (first since 2020) kicks off with the first of its three legs, the reinstated Group 3 Silver Bowl (1,400m), on Saturday.

Burridge was actually perplexed by Street Of Dreams’ lameness, getting to the bottom of it only after a battery of tests.

“At first, I thought it was a foot bruise as he’s got flat feet. We put a poultice on and a shoe bag, but it wasn’t that,” said the Australian.

“We did a four-point nerve block above his joint, but he was still sore. We also blocked his knee, X-rayed it, but he was sound as a bell.

“It’s only after we scanned his off-fore leg that we found out he had a high suspensory.

“It’s not too serious as time usually heals that. But we could not risk running him either.

“We don’t know what happened, he must have put a foot in a hole.”

Another high-profile galloper to have been cast on the sidelines is Michael Clements’ promising three-year-old Takanini. He had knee surgery last Monday.

The Argentinian-bred picked the injury up at his luckless sixth in the second leg of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge on May 6.

Though it was mild, Clements erred on the side of caution. He pulled the two-time winner out of the last leg, the Group 2 Singapore Guineas (1,600m) last Saturday.

“He had a small knee chip to the top joint of the knee. He got it in the second leg,” said Clements.

“It’s in an area where he can still race okay. Prosperous Return had the same issue when he won the Queen Elizabeth II Cup last year.

“But if it was the bottom joint, it’s no good at all. That’s why we were intending to still race him in the Guineas, but his condition dropped off, he wasn’t happy.

“He’s only a young horse. If he was as strong as Prosperous Return, we would definitely have run him in the Guineas.”