Robartson staying positive despite Throttle’s injury woes
Dave Robartson has shrugged off Throttle’s back injury – which has put him out of Phoenix and Melbourne Cup contention – because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to get out of bed in the morning.
This was his way of processing the disappointment after the talented two-year-old – who ran a slashing 29.03-second trial at Sandown on November 6 – was flown back to Perth last Thursday.
Robartson’s star sprinter was looking excellent on the track under the care of top Victorian trainer Kel Greenough before his health setback, which could keep him sidelined for another nine weeks.
“He bruised the top of his back muscle up near the pelvis,” Robartson told Australian Racing Greyhound.
“It’s probably the fact that he’s a fast dog and these things can happen when you’ve got a 60kg dog.
“Like all things with greyhounds, you can go from Cadbury’s chocolates to boiled lollies.
“You’ve just got to accept it and move on, otherwise you’ll never get out of bed of a morning if you sat back and brooded over it.
“We’re lucky he’s still in one piece, as far as I’m concerned.”
Throttle was also set to be announced by Peter Sadler to be his runner in The People of Peter Sadler Transport slot for The Phoenix on December 17.
While Sadler was left shattered at the news, he said this was just the start of what he hopes to be a long owner-trainer relationship with Dave and Christine Robartson.
And champion conditioner Robartson – ever the optimist – looked on the bright side and said he was relieved Throttle was under the care of Greenough when he got injured.
“He was with Kel, who’s a good dog handler. Had he been anywhere else it could’ve been a worse injury,” Robartson said.
“We were hoping that he’d trial all right, which he did. And we were going to put him in the Melbourne Cup, with a couple of runs before the big race.
“We don’t know (how the injury happened). There was nothing there that indicated he slowed down or did anything silly on any of the turns.
“He looked very smooth. When you’ve got a big dog at 60kg trying to pull up anything is possible.
“But we’ve got the benefit of him still being a young dog who’s just turned two.”
Throttle’s kennelmate Hinto ran third in the Greyhounds WA Young Stars Classic on Saturday, with Steve Shinners’ young gun Electrified winning by a staggering 11 lengths.
Before the $35,625 feature over 520m, Robartson said he was considering sending the two-year-old to Melbourne for the lucrative Dream Chasers series, which ends on December 17.
“We’ll see how Hinto comes up. He might go over yet. We haven’t decided for him and there are a couple of good races for him,” he said.
“So we’ll play it by ear over the next month or so and see how he comes up.”