ROB'S SHOUT - BUFF IN HONG KONG (PART 3)

By Robert Heathcote | Wednesday, December 10, 2014

In his personal blog, exclusive to HRO, multiple premiership winning trainer Robert Heathcote talks us through the Buffering 'hoof saga' setback ... how it evolved and what condition the horse is in now just days away from the big race.

Everything was going along brilliantly as we entered Buffering’s final week lead-up to the big International Sprint.

We arrived at the stable quarantine complex on the Tuesday morning at 7.30 am which was going to be Buff’s final lead-up gallop to the upcoming Sunday race on the Sha Tin course proper.

Buff was standing in the middle of his box seemingly half asleep still as the stables slowly stirred into life as first I checked his feed and water consumption for the night. Excellent, both big ticks and then I took his temperature, 100.4, perfectly normal.

The International visitors are not permitted onto the track until after 9 am when the local horses are all back in their stables so, unlike back home, it’s a late morning start here.

Former Hong Kong based trainer and now leading Aussie trainer, David Hayes then walked into the stables we are sharing having just arrived from Australia the previous day.

As David and I were chatting, my wife Vicky said Buffering just moved and he looked sore. I was aghast but yes, unfortunately she was spot on as he had a raging pulse in his off-fore front hoof and he was literally 5 out of 5 lame.

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I immediately did my first thorough check of Buffering as did David and we both deduced there had to be a hoof problem. A quick phone call and the vets and farrier came running.

It was very clear that Buffering was indeed in a lot of discomfort, non-weight bearing on his foot so the first thing the farrier did was get the shoe off and try to locate the source of the problem.

Initially this was also a problem as the pain and pressure must have been so bad that it was difficult to identify the exact point.

The Jockey Club head farrier, Brad Porter, an Aussie, basically took a punt on a nail hole and yes, he got it in one!

He managed to get a fluid discharge and the relief to Buffering was almost immediate.

At this point the Jockey Club head vet surgeon was on hand and Chris Riggs suggested we may indeed have dodged a bullet with the infection breaking out so quickly.

Whilst it certainly isn’t ideal leading up to a feature race on the other side of the world, the vets and farrier are quite confident we will indeed be taking our place in the field on Sunday.

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Yes, he has missed a crucial lead up gallop on Tuesday morning but we can cover that later in the week.

The immediate treatment is regular hoof-baths soaking his foot and then hoof-poultices so Tuesday was basically a shuttle run at two hour intervals all day back and forwards between the stables and the hotel to treat our little champ.

By 5pm on the Tuesday afternoon Buffering was again walking ok and bearing weight on his ‘sore foot’. The farrier was confident we could get the shoe back on in the morning and perhaps even work him on Wednesday morning.

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The source of the problem is what the farriers call a dirty nail.

The nail has to make a ‘hole’ in the hoof when the nail goes in and a germ has taken that same path and germinated into an infection.

Fortunately the speed with which it reared its ugly head can also go just as quickly with the proper treatment.

Buffering was last shod in Melbourne before he came up here and that was back on the 28th November so basically there were 10 days for the infection to ‘brew’ up.

Hard to know exactly how it happened as the farrier in Melbourne is world class and it’s not possible to ascertain how the germ found a home in Buffs hoof!

This was emphasises again by the vet later on … the germ could have entered the hoof at any stage over the past week and brewed up into an abscess.

We just needed to see continued improvement on the Wednesday morning.

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Fair to say I had a restless sleep Tuesday night but we were up early and first at the quarantine stables to give Buff’s hoof another hot soak.

There was already great news as he walked out of his box … just about sound but still a touch sensitive.

He had a hot soak, we re-poulticed his hoof and it was back to the hotel for breakfast.

Buffering’s hoof was even better again when he was later re-examined by the vets and the Jockey Club farrier at 8 am.

He was walking just about perfect by then so his plates were put on and he was trotted up for the vet. He was by then just about sound but I decided not to work him under saddle, just to give the hoof another 24 hours to recover before we placed any stress on the hoof.

He was rated a 1 out of 5 in terms of sensitivity, but we were delighted at the progress Buff had showed over the 24 hours.

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The plan for now is to work Buffering on the all-weather track on Thursday morning where hopefully all will be well and he will pull up sound.

If that’s the case, he will do some light three-quarter gallop work on the course proper on Friday morning which will top him off.

I have a fit racehorse with Buffering so it’s really getting there on Sunday sound and healthy that is the objective.

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I went to the Sha Tin races last Sunday. Wow, what an experience that was for a first timer!

Yes, it certainly is all about the punt with what the locals described as a non-descript meeting which still generated $1.5 Billion dollars in turnover. That’s about $200 million in our coin.

Extraordinary numbers indeed!

The facilities for the punters are awesome. Auditoriums with wall to wall screens and even cinema style viewing areas for the punters.

Several areas have built in computer style terminals to make betting easier with large viewing screens.

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I have managed to catch up and chat with former Qld Chief Steward, Steve Railton which was nice.

Steve has been here for quite a few years now.

Wednesday morning and the contingent of Aussie racing journo’s have arrived so with the International Jockey challenge on Tonight at Happy Valley Racecourse, the week is really starting to ramp up excitement-wise.

Whilst we are not totally out of the woods yet with Buffering, I have a feeling we have dodged a bullet and we will take out place in the race on Sunday.

It's getting exciting. Getting closer …

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