A minor injury has cruelled the season of one of Australia’s best jumpers, Bee Tee Junior (NZ) (Dom Du Jeu).
Trainer Rachael Cunningham confirmed that last year’s Grand National Steeplechase hero had missed several weeks of work after he sustained a minor leg injury in April.
While the nine-year-old has recovered well from the setback and returned to light exercise, Cunningham said she would’ve been in a race against time to get the gelding fit enough for a return to jumping.
“He had a little setback about six weeks ago and, as a result, we’ve made the decision not to press on this season,” Cunningham said.
“He’s back and good now but for us to get him to the track, we’d be rushing him and I want to put the horse before the competition.
“For us to get to some of those races, he needed to be up and having a few runs on the flat in the last month.
“He’s too important to our team to push him and have something go wrong.”
The son of Nom de Jeu quickly rose to prominence in his first campaign with Cunningham and, after minor placings in the Brendan Drechsler Hurdle and Grand National Hurdle, romped home by nine lengths in the Grand National Chase at his first attempt over the larger fences.
Bee Tee Junior’s absence leaves the Pakenham-based trainer without a headline jumps horse for the season, although she indicated several New Zealand imports were set to join her stable in the coming weeks.
