After a perfect start to his four-year-old campaign, O'Brien Award finalist Paquet hasn't raced since his lifetime best performance in the Canadian Sired Graduate Series at the start of May. According to the connections, there's a reason for that absence.
A four-year-old son of Muscle Mass–Darjeeling, Paquet completed the Canadian Sired Graduate series sweep with a 1:52.1 career best clocking in the $81,500 final for trotters. Co-owned by the father-son duo of Carl & Jody Jamieson, along with the Estate of Brian Paquet and Douglas Good, Paquet appeared poised for even stronger season than his recognized three-year-old year. However, those high hopes have now been put on hold.
“He’s been lame since his win in the [Canadian Sired] Graduate final,” driver and co-owner Jody Jamieson told Trot Insider. “He has a high suspensory injury…It was healed up, but it’s reared its ugly head again and he’ll be out for at least three more months.
“These horses are so fast nowadays and they’re more prone to injury as a result. He trots so hard and he tries so hard that he hurts himself because of it… he must’ve taken a bad step at some point.”
Jamieson isn’t entirely sure if Paquet will come back before the end of the season, but his main concern is that when the horse does come back, he’s in perfect condition.
"We’re back to putting him back together and we’re going to keep our fingers crossed. We might be able to catch the end of the year [Breeders Crown], but we aren’t really sure at this point.
"At the end of the day, he’s only four [years old] and he’s got plenty of racing left. We’re hoping if he does come back, we’ll be bringing him back 100 per cent. We aren’t going to bring him back prematurely and risk his five-year-old campaign.”
Paquet sports a career summary of 7-1-2 from 11 appearances with more than $410,000 in earnings.
(Standardbred Canada)