On Friday, the 5yr-old was in considerable doubt for tomorrow’s great 3200m race after working poorly in training, thought to be because of a virus.
His trainers, Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen, alerted stewards that the horse would be possibly be scratched from the New Zealand Cup, chief stipendiary steward Nick Ydgren said.
The call was made after the 5yr-old had worked poorly at Addington on Friday morning. Heaven Rocks, and others in the Rasmussen stable, were then blood-tested later in the day.
The news that the second-favourite was possibly out of the cup made Lazarus’ vice-like grip on the $800,000 feature look even tighter.
Though the blood tests did not specifically show Heaven Rocks was suffering from a virus he showed pre-viral results, and some of his stablemates had post-viral readings.
Heaven Rocks then received veterinary treatment in line with his blood test results.
The stable again contacted stewards yesterday to report the horse had responded well to the treatment and had worked brilliantly on Saturday, Ydgren said.
Heaven Rocks is the $8 second-favourite for tomorrow’s staying test, behind Lazarus, the $1.25 favourite.
