STAR Tasmanian three-year-old harness racing filly Cloudy Delight will miss next week’s Tasmanian Oaks courtesy of a strained fetlock joint.
Cloudy Delight’s trainer Christian Salter said the filly “ricked” her off-side front fetlock joint last week which was why she was scratched from the 3YO Fillies’ Championship in Launceston last Sunday night.
Cloudy Delight was last season’s Tasmanian 2YO of the Year and returned to racing with a win in Launceston before being overshadowed at her two subsequent outings, although the latest was a second to Mr Nickel in the Tasmanian Derby two weeks ago.
“The filly has swelling in the fetlock joint that has definitely counted her out of the Tasmanian oaks next Sunday night,” Salters said.
“The filly can still walk and move freely but we are going to err on the side of caution.”
“I am very confident that it isn’t a serious injury and we are hoping she can contest the Bandbox Stakes in about six weeks time,” Salters aide.
Cloudy Delight won six from nine last season and has a win and two seconds from her three starts this time in for close to $70,000 in stakes.
While Cloudy Delight will be missing from the Tasmanian Oaks line-up the state will be well represented by some smart fillies.
High Flying Ruler looms as the state’s best chance given her recent form that boasts two wins from as many starts including an effortless all-the-way win in the $10,000 3YO Fillies’ Championship in Launceston on Sunday night.
With her trainer Rohan Hillier in the sulky, High Flying Ruler showed brilliant gate speed to lead and she was untroubled to score by almost 15 metres from Margin Girl with Jazzy Lavra just over three metres away third and just in advance of Play Apple Tree.
High Flying Ruler (Jet Laag-Northern Ruler) is owned by Larry Nichols who is a quality trainer ion his own right but he opted to hand the filly over to Hillier for her three-year-old campaign and with brilliant results.
High Flying Ruler’s mile rate in the 3YO Fillies’ Championship was two minutes with a last half (800 metres) of 58.4 seconds making it a class record for the journey.