Group One winning champion thoroughbred Sniper’s Bullet is lucky to be safe in his Mudgee paddock after the gelding broke loose while being loaded onto a float at Warwick Farm racecourse on Friday morning.
Trainer Bartley, fresh from General’s, Sniper’s gallant dead heat at Canterbury on Thursday night, was sent into panic mode after Sniper’s Bullet broke away from his tie up position after Bartley had placed him on the float.
“He broke his halter and came off the float and started off down the road at a canter,” Bartley said.
“He had narrow misses with two trucks, went round a corner and collided head on with a car.
“The side mirror on the car was broken in the incident and the bonnet was dented.
“I thought he was going to head out onto a highway, the roads he was on were busy enough, but fortunately he headed back and was stopped by a man who had a red light and was recaptured.
“It gave me the fright of my life - I thought he was about to get seriously injured.”
Sniper’s Bullet came through the escapade with skin off his hindquarter and his rear right bumper, which was quickly bandaged after he arrived back in Mudgee at about 8.45am on Friday.
“It was a storke of good fortune that he was not seriously injured,” Bartley said.
Bartley said the minor injuries he sustained would not affect future plans for the horse.
“We have now decided to miss the Sydney carnival and will send Sniper’s Bullet to the paddock straight away and bring him back in time to target the Doomben 10,000 over the Brisbane winter carnival,” he said.
Despite the early morning ordeal at Warwick Farm, Sniper’s Bullet was alert and looked very athletic when walked off the float at Toican Park after his trip from Sydney.
His strapper Shannay Van Dyke was there to welcome him back and the horse seemed to recognise he was back home.
For the first time in six months Sniper’s Bullet was released into his favourite paddock, the one nearest the stable complex, and showed his liking for his freedom by running around the paddock and kicking up his heels and showing no affect of the morning’s escapade.
Bartley had been at Canterbury races on Thursday night when he had General’s Sniper engaged in the last race over 1550 metres.
Drawn wide, General’s Sniper won the start and was steered to the running rail by jockey Grant Buckley.
On straightening the filly showed a good turn of foot to put a gap in the opposition but was forced to share the prizemoney when Gary Portelli’s AJC Oaks bound Filly flashing home to level up on the line in a deceptive photo finish.
Bartley, along with most people on track thought the Mudgee trained filly had held on, but the photo finish could not split them and the judges declared the result a dead heat.
“Better to get half the prizemoney than having to settle for second,” Bartley quipped.
“She was probably a run short, but we’ll now step her up to 1600 metres and see what she is made of.
“I think she can win a nice race over the major racing carnivals in the next few months.”
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