ACCOMPLISHED sprinter Living On A Prayer is out of next week's $100,000 Wagga Town Plate (1200m).
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Wagga trainer Dave Heywood has sent the six-year-old to the spelling paddock and pulled the pin on the Town Plate campaign.
Living On A Prayer has endured a number of issues since returning to Wagga five weeks ago and being balloted out of a barrier trial at Wagga on Tuesday was the final straw for connections.
“He’s going to the paddock, he’ll have a little freshen up and definitely won’t be running in the Town Plate,” Heywood said.
“Everything’s gone pear shape and this was the icing on the cake being first emergency for a barrier trial.
“The situation’s bloody ridiculous.”
Living On A Prayer, a winner of $220,000 in earnings, was made first emergency for the barrier trial with preference being given to unraced and barred horses needing to get the all clear to have a race start.
Heywood believes Murrumbidgee Turf Club should be given discretionary powers to add or eliminate horses in barrier trials.
“For the good of everybody, there needs to be something in place where they can use discretion,” Heywood said.
“Either the club or stewards should be able to do something. I’m not blaming Scott (Sanbrook) or John (Davidson) because I’m sure they would have done something if they could.
“This is a horse that would have created plenty of interest and now he’s not coming.”
Living On A Prayer finished third in last year’s Town Plate and has since campaigned in Queensland.
He scored a win in the $75,000 Cleveland Bay Handicap at Townsville and a $50,000 race at Doomben on a Saturday.
Living On A Prayer travelled “poorly” from Queensland and then had a foot abscess.
MTC offered an exhibition gallop at Tuesday’s race meeting for Living On A Prayer, and also a jump out on Wednesday for horses that missed out on the trial.
Heywood declined both.
“He’s just the type of horse that needed to go to the barriers and make out it’s a race and Wednesday wasn’t going to work,” he said.
“We’ve had everything go pear shaped and I knew if we don’t get the trial into him that we would be stuffed.”
Heywood will now campaign Living On A Prayer in Melbourne through Winter.
Heywood hopes to have stablemate Calke Abbey in the Town Plate.