ROCKET Tiger's connections face a nervous wait to find out whether the star Wagga horse will be passed fit to race in Saturday's rich Golden Slipper after vets found him to be two-fifths lame in his near foreleg.
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But his trainer Scott Spackman and owner Noel Penfold, who has forked out a $150,000 late entry fee to chase his dream in the world's richest two-year-old race, believe it has always been the horse's natural gait.
Spackman said the horse will be inspected by Racing NSW's head vet Dr Toby Koenig on Thursday morning, who will determine whether he will run in the $3.5 million feature at Rosehill.
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"I think he will be (passed fit), but I'm not a vet. All I know is the horse has always had that gait, but they're just doing their job," Spackman said.
"All I know is the horse's work has been 100 per cent, I can't fault him. He's always had this little bit of a gait, (but) they seem to think it's a problem."
Penfold said if Rocket Tiger is scratched, they will get the horse looked over with a fine toothed comb to ensure similar issues don't arise in future.
"If he gets scratched we'll probably take the horse somewhere, get him X-rayed and checked over. We'll let professionals have a look at him and see if he does have a problem," Penfold said.
"We're not sure what's going on, it's a bit of a shock really.
"They seem to think he's lame and I'm sure Scotty wouldn't start him if he's lame. I'm forking out $150,000 and he's not going to risk that.
"It's obviously a tough decision, but they'll make the decision and I don't think we'll get much of a choice.
"We'll be disappointed if he's scratched, but I just wonder say in six months' time if the horse is still doing the same thing, do they not allow him to race again?"
After placing third in the Black Opal as favourite in Canberra on March 7 connections initially scrapped their Slipper dream.
But Rocket Tigers subsequent strong track work and the knowledge it could be their only shot at Slipper glory convinced Penfold to take a six-figure punt.
"He's worked so well, that convinced me, plus we'll probably never get another crack at it," he said.
"I put those two together then spoke to the family about it, we just said 'let's have a go'."
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