INTER Dominion plunge runner Dangerous will face one more precautionary vet check before being cleared to tackle tomorrow night’s $1 million Ladbrokes pacing final at Albion Park.
QRIC chief steward Neil Finnigan said the remaining check was “just to be safe” after three vets, two from QRIC and an independent vet, cleared Dangerous on Thursday afternoon.
“They will check him again around 7.30-7.45am tomorrow (Saturday), just to be sure, but all are confident he’ll be fine to race after what they saw yesterday,” Finnegan said.
Dangerous, backed from as much as $401 pre-post into $8, is one of three finalists for trainer Jason Grimson. Captains Mistress $2.40 and Minos $5 are the others.
A standard veterinary inspection of all Inter Dominion runners last Sunday, the day after the second round of heats, first revealed Dangerous was lame.
“Jason has been very co-operative and said he thought it was an abscess,” Finnigan said. “That abscess burst through on the Tuesday night and the horse has kept improving since.
“All three vets were happy with him yesterday and he’s got a solid bar shoe in place to support the hoof.”
Finnigan said Dangerous was the only runner across both the pacing and trotting finals to have shown any issues.
It’s great news for NSW young gun Jye Coney, who landed his first Inter Dominion drive on Dangerous earlier this week.
Dangerous finished a luckless eighth from a bad draw on opening night, then led and won in sparkling fashion last Saturday night.
He has gate five, is fourth favourite and Grimson gives him a winning chance.
“He should settle handy in the running line from there and if the race is quickly run as we expect, he’ll be right in the finish,” he said.
Dangerous joined Grimson’s stable from Victorian trainer Shane Sanderson only two weeks before the series started.
He made headlines when he unofficially broke Leap To Fame’s 1660m Albion Park track record with a scorching 1min48.3sec mile rate in a trial nine days before the first round of heats.
But the pacer has shown his class before, winning a heat of the 2024 Sydney Inter Dominion and finishing fifth to Don Hugo in the final.
PHOTO: Toby Coutts
