Gold Ace has a badly bruised foot and the speed of his recovery will determine whether he starts in the New Zealand Trotting Cup on November 13.
"If he doesn't come right in the next few days I am in trouble," Steven Reid, his trainer, said.
Reid has made the trip from Pukekohe to Halswell to assess Gold Ace.
Gold Ace did the damage when he pulled a shoe in the Ashburton Flying Stakes on Monday. He has not been worked this week.
Reid has scratched Easy On The Eye from the Kaikoura Cup on Monday to allow the gelding more time to recover from a haematoma on his back.
"He had a bit of an accident and got under a gate and did not do enough when he was successful at the trials [Ashburton] on Wednesday," Reid said.
• Uncas is set to carry on where he left off with winning form at Addington tonight.
Uncas has not raced since he won a double at the Nelson meeting in June. The Bevan Heron-trained gelding won a workout at Rangiora last Saturday, trotting his last 800m in 57.8.
Gavin Smith, who drove Uncas to win at Addington in February, is back in the sulky.
Phil's Gift, a last-start third in Harness Jewels at Cambridge in June and winner of five from 18 starts last season, is also resuming.
Stylish Monarch, the well-performed stablemate of Phil's Gift with Murray Tapper, has been turned out with a tear to a suspensory ligament.
Tapper said he is less than a 50-50 chance to race again.
Franco Nelson, unbeaten in four starts in New Zealand as a 2yr-old last season and placed in another two in Victoria, is resuming in a heat of the Sires' Stakes tonight. He won the Welcome Stakes at Addington.
Franco Nelson won a workout at Motukarara last Saturday following a fourth and a second in trials.
Ellmer Hanover and Beach Bunny, both trained by Brendon Hill, are top prospects tonight.
Ellmer Hanover (race 6) has won at Methven and Addington in his two starts since joining the stable. Beach Bunny (race 10) was a last-start winner at Addington on September 13.
• Tony Lee has resigned suddenly as a race commentator with the New Zealand Racing Board after some 30 years in the job. He has been replaced for the Wellington meeting tomorrow by Mark McNamara.
