Leading three-year-old sprinter Venetian Sun (Starman) has suffered an injury that will keep her on the sidelines for the rest of the season, Karl Burke revealed on Tuesday.
“It's a big shame and, unfortunately, it happens,” said the trainer. “It's a long way from being a career- or life-threatening injury, but it's obviously going to take time. It's very disappointing.
“We had more or less decided to swerve Deauville [Sunday's Prix Maurice de Gheest] anyway, because the ground was very fast out there last weekend, with no sign of any rain, and the French are not watering like they used to do.”
He added, “It's just one of those things. We have a feeling that she may have initiated it at Newmarket during the July Cup. She came back from there with a nasty little cut and she had been on antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. We think that may have masked it to a degree.”
Venetian Sun has won six of her nine career outings to date, including last year's G1 Prix Morny at Deauville and the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot in June. She was last seen chasing home Comanche Brave (Wootton Bassett) in the G1 July Cup at Newmarket.
The plan had been for the daughter of Starman to stay in training as a four-year-old, with Burke still not ruling out the possibility of her returning to training if she makes a full recovery.
“It's basically a strain to the tendon,” he added of the injury. “It happens a lot with jumping horses. It's unusual really at this stage in a sprinter's life, but it can happen. It's a time thing now. She will have the next six or seven months on the easy list and then be reassessed from there.
“The little bit of work she has done the last few days has just aggravated it. We've had the vets in this morning and they weren't 100 per cent happy with a little bit of heat in the leg. That is what it turns out to be.
“The plan before today was, if she finished the season in good shape, she would stay in training. That may still be the plan, but that is a discussion for later on.”
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