Sheikh Hamdan's Massaat (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), an eased-down last as the favourite in the Aug. 11 G3 Sovereign S., will undergo a thorough physical exam in an attempt to determine the cause of his 40-length defeat, according to trainer Owen Burrows. Massaat led through the early stages of the mile affair but tailed off abruptly once put under pressure.
“Nothing mechanical has come to light,” Burrow said. “He was not lame or anything like that. We are just going to do some internal tests on him now over the next week to make sure everything is as it should be. We will have to wait and see what the specialists find, but it is hard to say if he will come back as he was, but we hope and pray he does.”
“Even if he was a bit under the weather, he would have still got to a furlong-and-a-half out,” Burrows added. “The worrying fact was that he stopped so quickly and that he lost his action all too soon. That's not him. I was happy that he was out in front at Salisbury as I thought he would wind it up and that it would take a good one to get past him.”
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