‘He shouldn’t be racing’: Huetor defies odds again

It’s been four years since Huetor debuted as a winner in Australia at Newcastle. A victory laced with class and courage, which has become the stayer’s trademark.

Trainer Peter Snowden calls the nine-year-old the most courageous horse he has had anything to do with because of what he has endured off the track.

Twice he has overcome eye ailments, which threatened to take his eye and finish his career after winning the Doomben Cup in 2022.

“It was bacteria that got in his eye and behind the pupil,” Snowden said. “I don’t know many horses that would have comeback from that.”

“He is so courageous and fights. It has served him well on and off the track. You only get to see a little bit of how tough he is at the races.”

The eye surgeries in 2022 came before Huetor won the Doomben Cup and he would return to Brisbane to make it back-to-back wins in the Group 1 in 2023.

“He loves being in the stable and doing his work,” Snowden said.

“He is the sort of horse every knows and loves.”

It’s why the millionaire, who started his life in France, stays in work and as he comes back from another injury, which would have finished most careers.

“He got galloped on in the Caulfield Cup last year when he was going well, and the vet on the day said he wouldn’t race again.”

“It was that bad,” Snowden continued.

“But he took every step in rehab, and he loves the routine in the stable, so we are having another go with him.”

Huetor has failed to flatter in three runs back, but the 2300m of Saturday’s Beauford might give him the chance to return to the form which saw him split Buckaroo and Pericles in the Underwood Stakes last year.

“He looks incredible and between 2000m and 2400m has always been where he is at his best,” Snowden said. “We haven’t been back to Newcastle since that first win, which seems a long time ago with all he has been through.”

“I think we might see him do something on the weekend. It would be good for him to win at Newcastle again.”