Star sprinter Sooty Keeping will be scratched from the Group 2 Sires On Ice Black Top final at The Gardens on Saturday night.
The pre-final favourite strained a ligament in her sensational 29.09 BON heat performance over the weekend, with trainer Charmaine Roberts today making the call to withdrawn her from the $40,000 decider.
"She must have done it pulling up because she was enormous in the run," Roberts said on Monday.
"As we got back to the kennels she was starting to look a bit lame on one leg so I checked her foot straight away to see if she had a cut or something in her pad but it was all clear."
"By the time we got her back to Dubbo and out the next morning, she was still favouring it so we got an X-ray done and sent to John Newell and he confirmed the swelling and inflammation was due to a ligament strain."
"So she'll miss the Black Top final and the city qualifiers of the Million Dollar Chase as well which is pretty disappointing...but that's racing."
Sooty Keeping alongside Charmaine Roberts after her heat win on Saturday night
The reigning Flying Amy, NSW National Sprint, Richmond Oaks and Nowra Puppy Classic champion now no chance of taking part in the October 10 semi-finals of the Ladbrokes MDC.
"This might sound a bit funny but I wasn't so much thinking about the MDC," Roberts added.
"But it would have been nice to try and win the Black Top again...Caitlyn Keeping won the race for us in 2019 so it means a bit to the kennel."
"We'll give her three weeks off now which might do her the world of good. She's still very young, she's never had anything wrong with her and she's raced in a lot of big races this year...sadly, things like this do happen.
"The Brother Fox (moved to November) will be her next target...but time will tell."
Tracker is the first reserve for the Sires On Ice Black Top Final for Jason Mackay.
