Moore reins in Werther expectations but still hopes for bold showing
Hong Kong galloper named among the world’s best racehorses this week and, while trainer John Moore admits the ‘jury is out’, he is still confident
Hong Kong’s highest-rated galloper and reigning Horse of the Year Werther returns on Monday with the usual reservations tendon injuries bring but also plenty of optimism from trainer John Moore.
Werther’s dominant Group One Audemars Piguet QEII Cup win was named equal eighth-best performance of 2016 when the Longines World’s Best Racehorse rankings were released this week.
Yet whether or not Moore’s five-year-old can ever scale those heights again after suffering a suspensory injury in his right hind leg during preseason is the big question heading into Monday’s Group One Stewards’ Cup at Sha Tin.
“Of course there is a lot of expectation any time you have a Horse of the Year returning, especially when he has rated so highly with his performances,” Moore said of the horse that is rated the equal second-best Hong Kong-trained horse since 1998.
“But the jury is out with regard to injury, so there is an element of wait and see. But he is a very clean-winded horse, like Rapper Dragon, and maybe is the type of horse that could just come out and do something that could surprise some people.”
Werther’s preparation hasn’t been entirely straightforward since the injury either and includes a frightening incident last week when the quirky gelding dislodged his work rider and ran three laps of the small dirt track at Sha Tin.
