Robertson gets Underwood Road back from the brink of retirement By Duane Ranger This time last year Pukekohe trainers Logan Hollis and Shane Robertson didn’t know if their stable star Underwood Road would ever race again. He was mixing his form and hadn’t won a race since June 2012. They thought his tumour on his near side pedal bone, combined with a suspensory injury, had finally caught up with the tough old son of Elsu. “He’s suffered from a keratoma for the last three seasons. Back then we thought it might be the time to retire him, and in fact had it not been for Shane’s around-the-clock care I’m certain he would have been all done by now,” Hollis said. A kerotoma is a rare benign tumour of the inner layer of keratin-producing epidermal hoof wallcells which forms inside a horse’s foot. As the tumour slowly grows, it expands and separates the hoof wall laminae, causing pain and lameness. The tumour has either disappeared or Underwood Road isn’t feeling it because the 7-year-old brown gelding is racing in the form of his life at present. Last Thursday night at Cambridge Raceway he dealt to his C2 and faster opposition from his 30 metre handicap by three lengths, pacing the 2200m mobile in 2:44.9. A week earlier he landed his seventh career win when beating his C2-C5 opponents by two lengths in 2:44.7. “He’s a different horse now. He’s really turned the corner since Christmas and all I can put it down to is Shane’s constant care. He spends hours icing, massaging, claying and wrapping him. “He’s so committed. It’s unbelievable the hours he puts in. I’ve got the easy job. All I do is just sit in the sulky on race night. Everything Underwood Road has achieved is a result of my partner’s total commitment and dedication to the horse,” 42-year-old Hollis said. Hollis never considered Underwood Road a speed horse but has been surprised in recent weeks with his acceleration. “Both times on the home turn I felt like I was driving the winner. He’s shown more dash than he ever has,” Hollis said. But Hollis said Underwood Road was still very much a month-to-month proposition. He, said he started ‘turning the corner’ with consecutive seconds on Boxing Day, January 3, January 26, and January 31. “Some of those seconds were phenomenal runs behind some really nice horses like Mista Mara and Spectacular. “He’s now seven and won eight races for us. He’s racing in the form of his life – even better than when he horses are supposed to be at their peak at four, five and six,” Hollis said. “He’s also won more than $10,000 for his owner in each of his last four seasons,” he added. This season has been Underwood Road’s most successful, winning three of his 18 starts and placing in eight others for $22,242 in purses. Underwood Road is owned and was bred by north Auckland rural delivery driver Nena Woolston, who lives on Underwood Road in Wellsford. She also had horses with Geoff Small, namely the five-win Falcon Seelster gelding Sulaweisi Seelster. Woolston also a share in Underwood Road’s sire, and double millionaire, Elsu. Underwood Road has now had 94 starts for eight wins, 14 seconds, and 16 thirds. His bank balance currently sits at $73,081. He is the first of two foals, and only race starter, out of the unraced Barnett Hanover mare Sweet Deceit. Published 2 April 2014 on hrnz.co.nz.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 00:47:13 +0000