Gavin Bedggood won’t rush G1 winner Mornington Glory back to the races following a lengthy spell over spring due to injury.
The Moir Stakes winner was found to be showing signs of a degenerative joint condition after an inglorious three-start campaign in August and September, after which he was sent to the paddock for three months.
While the seven-year-old is back in work at Bedggood’s Cranbourne stables, his trainer isn’t working towards any definitive targets with the gelding and admits several feature sprints in the summer and autumn will likely come up too soon.
Bedggood famously resurrected the sprinter’s career after he was officially retired and, even if he can’t again scale the lofty heights he did in 2024, he remains proud of Mornington Glory’s achievements on the track.
“We sent him off for scintigraphy post his run in Sydney and it came back showing pod lesions so he had to have three months in the paddock,” Bedggood said.
“He’s had a month on the water walker and he’s been back under saddle at my stable for the past eight days.
“I think the autumn may come up a bit quick.
“I just want to take my time and the horse will tell us.
“I’m hopeful more than confident (of getting him back to the top level), he’s hard to place given where his rating is at now and 1000m is his right journey and those races at his level are few and far between.
“When you’re running to a timeframe with horses that have had injuries, you can put unnecessary pressure on them so we’re just going to take our time with him.
“When he’s ready, he’s ready and we’ll find something for him when the time comes.
“He’s been a good horse and he doesn’t owe us anything.”
