Star South Australian sprinter Gytrash is recovering well and poised to find his way to the paddock just in time for a Christmas break.
Trainer Gordon Richards said the horse was in good shape following his surgery to remove a bone chip which was discovered following his win in the Yes Yes Yes Stakes at Randwick in Sydney in October.
“He’s all good,” Richards said.
“It’s five or six weeks now since the operation and only a couple of weeks until he goes out to a paddock.”
Despite being bound to his box for a large part of his early recovery, Richards said the horse’s attitude had made the process straight forward.
“He’s a good horse in the stable,” Richards said.
“He’s smart enough to realise why he’s there. He was confined to a box for a while and now in a small yard, but he’ll enjoy some time in the paddock now.”
After Richards and connections initially considered getting the horse back in work and looking at a Brisbane winter carnival campaign, the trainer confirmed it would be a lengthy break and then all systems go towards another Everest tilt in Sydney in 2021.
“He’ll be off for another four or five months,” Richards said.
“We did think about giving him a shorter break, but then he would get back with limited races around for him. So the big break should do him the world of good and the time to get over the surgery.
“We can then look at heading back to Sydney again.”
Gytrash’s three-start Sydney campaign netted a win in the Group 3 Concorde Stakes and $1m Yes Yes Yes Stakes along with a placing in the world’s richest race on turf.
From his 22 starts Gytrash has now banked connections a $3,199,050 in prizemoney, including a $750,000 bonus for winning the Yes Yes Yes Stakes.