Two of the top three-year-old pacers in North America - A Rocknroll Dance and Bolt The Duer - came up short in Saturday's Tattersalls Pace. Reports indicate that the possibility of both colts racing in the 2012 Breeders Crown at Woodbine Racetrack is now in question.
The race was won impressively by Sweet Lou, who held off a game Hillbilly Hanover to win in 1:48.1. A Rocknroll Dance finished seventh while Bolt The Duer finished 12th and last.
According to the trainer and co-owner of A Rocknroll Dance, Jim Mulinix, that colt had throat surgery on Monday at Rood & Riddle Equine Clinic in Lexington, Kentucky.
"We scoped him and they said he didn't flip his palate, he just choked,” Mulinix told harnessracing.com. "Rood & Riddle looked at his throat and cut the strap muscles, which is pretty common and done in five minutes. They said his palate was bruised pretty good, but he didn't flip it.”
With eliminations for the 2012 Breeders Crown taking place next weekend at Woodbine Racetrack, Mulinix plans to ship A Rockroll Dance north as the surgery should not curtail his racing campaign.
The same cannot be said for Adios champ Bolt The Duer, who is slated for evaluation at Rood & Riddle on Wednesday, October 10.
"It could be a virus…we haven't come up with an answer,” Foley said to harnessracing.com. "It's got me baffled. He's not the same horse. He had an inflamed throat the week before but he shouldn't have gone further on Saturday.
"He got beat in the Jug and was bad last week, and now he can't get past the half. So something is amiss. I don't think it's anything serious. Maybe he had atrial fibrillation, that's why he's going to go on the treadmill at Rood & Riddle on Wednesday.”
The questions surrounding Bolt The Duer have his connections leaning against racing in the Breeders Crown, with the eliminations for the Messenger at Yonkers Raceway in early November seeming more likely.