Courtesy of The Dogs website

Elly To Miss Bracelet
01/05/09

The Group Two Evans & Sons Jeweller Ladies Bracelet at Wentworth Park has lost a major drawcard with the shock scratching of the brilliant Miss Elly Mint from Saturday night’s heats.

Miss Elly Mint, runner-up to another leading Ladies Bracelet contender Dana Beatrice in last month’s memorable Golden Easter Egg, would have started a prohibitive odds-on favourite from box seven in the third of four Bracelet heats but trainer Robert Smith was forced to scratch her on Thursday.

Miss Elly Mint picked up a minor injury when winning brilliantly over 400 metres at Maitland last Thursday night but after needing to treat his sprinting queen with antibiotics during the week Smith was left with no option but to scratch from the Bracelet heats.

“As she crossed the field at Maitland last week one of the other dogs spiked her between the toes,” a disappointed Smith explained on Thursday.

“It was just in one of those hard to heal areas and I had to put her on a course of antibiotics. She nearly would have been right to run but she’s still on the antibiotics and there are no clear guidelines as to how long you need to wait until they’re out of her system, so it wasn’t worth the risk.

“It’s disappointing because the Bracelet looked like being a really good race with four or five top bitches and the way her heat was drawn I think my bitch would have had a very good chance.”

While she’s been forced out of the Bracelet and the possibility of a mouth-watering rematch in the final against her Easter Egg conqueror Dana Beatrice, which would have been a promoter’s dream for the GBOTA, there are no thoughts of retirement yet for Miss Elly Mint.

“While she’s happy, healthy and fit I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t keep racing her,” Smith said.

“I’d really like to have a crack at the Richmond 400 metre record with her. I think the Richmond ‘400’ is a true indication of speed and that’s probably where she’ll go next.”

Classy Western Australian bitch Joanne Monelli, also a finalist in the Golden Easter Egg, is another high profile casualty from the Bracelet heats after sustaining a metacarpal injury that will require surgery.

In the absence of Miss Elly Mint and Joanne Monelli, Dana Beatrice appears to have a stranglehold on the $25,000 to the winner Bracelet.

Dana Beatrice, which has drawn box eight in the opening Bracelet heat, has had two starts at Young since her race record Easter Egg triumph, breaking the track record in a heat of the Country Challenge and then winning the final on Anzac Day.