THE Locomotive’s Swedish adventure is over earlier than expected.
Trainer Brad Hewitt confirmed the five-year-old was preparing for the long trip back home.
“He was just awful last start, too bad to be true,” he said. “You can’t push on after that.
“We’ll get him back home, which is a huge process with all the quarantine, then give him as good a break as we can, but being mindful we need him back and firing by the end of the year.”
Hewitt said the Elitlopp trip was a remarkable experience, but was tricky with his big stable back home.
“We had him right for Elitlopp day, but he drew poorly. He ran well enough to say he could’ve made the final from a better draw,” he said.
“He’s not the easiest horse to train and ideally I should have stayed longer, but that was never going to be possible with my team at home.”
The Locomotive ran a creditable sixth in his Elitlopp heat, but then drew better and ran miles below best at Boden two weeks ago.
“We gave it a shot and it’s probably a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Hewitt said.
“It’ll be great to get him back home, but he won’t get as long out as you think.
“By time he does all the quarantine there and then back here, he might get a few weeks properly spelling before we start again.”
PHOTO: Stuart McCormick
