Lavra Joe In Final Recovery Steps
Superstar pacer could get the greenlight to return to racing as early as this Thursday, as he continues his recovery from a leg injury.
The four-year-old hasn’t raced since the middle of last year due to what trainer Ray Jones described as a slight “pull in his suspensory ligament”.
Jones said everything had gone smoothly in his recovery and could trial in three weeks.
“We will have his last scan on Thursday to make sure everything is perfect, which I expect it will be,” he told The Trots WA.
“We got him scanned four months after the injury and the vet has been surprised how quickly he’s recovered.
“We’ve given him the best available treatment to make sure he’s all good to go when he does start racing.”
Lavra Joe won nine of his 12 starts as a three-year-old, with his only defeats coming in the Sales Classic (2130m), WA Derby (2536m) and another 2130m event at the hands of To Fast To Serious.
His most complete performance came in the Group 2 Western Gateway (2536m), when he set a new race record of 1:54.4.
During his injury layoff, Jones also elected to geld his stable star.
Jones said he hoped to get Lavra Joe to the Golden Nugget later this year, but indicated no plan was set in stone.
“He’s fairly fit and we have given him some light jog work to make sure he doesn’t get too fat,” he said.
“If I want to trial him I probably can in three weeks, but I haven’t programmed anything.
“He has to front up in Free-For-All class when he comes back, so hopefully he comes back just as impressively as a four-year-old because he will need to.
“I think he’s up to the best of the Free-For-All horses we’ve got here.”
Tim Walker
Image – Hamilton Content Creators
WATCH – Lavra Joe’s Western Gateway win