THE owners of star Tasmanian galloper The Cleaner dropped a bombshell today when they revealed they had sacked the horse’s trainer Mick Burles.
Managing owner of the eight-year-old, Bill Fawdry, confirmed he and the other owners Paul Burt and Jim Lowish had decided it would be in the best interests of the horse to transfer him to another trainer.
The Cleaner will be transferred to Mornington trainer Shane Stockdale who is probably better known as one of the best horse breakers in Victoria with clients such as Peter Moody and Mark Zara rating him one of the best in the business.
The shock decision was made in the aftermath of The Cleaner’s disappointing performance in Launceston last Wednesday night where first-up from a spell he finished near last in the weight-for-age Conquering Stakes over 1400 metres won by Admiral.
“There are a few reasons why we have decided to send the horse to another trainer but mainly it is because Mick (Burles) has been making a few mistakes lately and we just felt it was time to make a change,” Fawdry said.
“We have put making this decision off for over a month but in the end we felt we had no option but to send the horse elsewhere,” he said.
Burles was devastated and said while nothing is forever in the racing game he had become so close to the horse that he can’t imagine life without him.
The Cleaner took the nation by storm in Burles’ care winning Group races the past two seasons in Melbourne and he contested the past two W. S. Cox Plates finishing seventh at his latest attempt.
The Cleaner is expected to leave the state on Wednesday night and be at Stockdale’s stables on Thursday.