Kiwi stayer Megablast has recovered from a minor leg injury and is fit to take his place in the 2018 Listed $175,000 Scott McMahon Electrical Caloundra Cup (2400m) at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday.
The Nigel Tilley trained Megablast was forced to miss the Group 2 $300,000 Pages Hire Brisbane Cup (2200m) on June 9 and the Group 3 $200,000 Lazy Yak Tattersall’s Cup (2200m) last Saturday, both at Doomben, because of a minor leg injury.
The six year old grey hasn’t raced since finishing third behind Egg Tart and Tradesman in the Group 2 $200,000 Bradford Access Insulation P.J. O’Shea Stakes (2200m) at the Sunshine Coast on June 2, but Tiley said that he is fit to line up for his first run in a month after sustaining a knock to his sesamoids in his front leg.
“He knocked a sesamoid, which is why I had to scratch him out of the Brisbane Cup,” Tiley said.
“I thought it was a huge run in the O’Shea Stakes.”
“We haven’t lost a lot of ground with him. He’s probably only missed a couple of gallops since he hurt his leg. He’s still working but it has just been a case of doing a lot of walking and slow, steady work to keep him up to the mark.”
Tiley said that Megablast was given the all clear last week following extra scans and x-rays.
“We scanned and x-rayed him again and got the all-clear so we are good to go,” Tiley said.
Megablast is on the second line of betting at $3.80 for the Caloundra Cup with Ladbrokes.com.au behind the Darren Weir trained Tradesman who heads the market order at $3.40 while the third favourite Nurse Kitchen has been scratched and will run in the Listed $125,000 Winter Cup (2400m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
The Chris Munce trained First Crush is now on the third line of betting at $8 just ahead of Smart As You Think at $10.
The scratching of Nurse Kitchen means that Megablast will now jump from gate nine in the fifteen horse Caloundra Cup field with Damian Browne in the saddle again.
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