Marsh says Well Written will rest and recover in New South Wales and, when back to full health, which could be only a matter of a few days, she will be flown home to New Zealand for a longer break from training.
That means at least the potential of a summer bonus for New Zealand race fans with Well Written possibly to race here at least once or even twice over the summer before returning to Australia to chase an all-important Group 1 there to boost her future broodmare worth.
While Marsh and her connections will not be thinking that far ahead yet, races like the Shaw’s Railway (1200m) or Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic (1600m) at Ellerslie on Karaka Millions night January 23 could become options, as could the BCD Classic at Te Rapa on February 6.
Well Written is the reigning New Zealand Horse of the Year after a stunning debut season last term when she went from maidens to winning the NZ 1000 Guineas, $1.5m Karaka Millions Three-Year-Old and $4m NZB Kiwi.
She resumed with a fresh-up win in the Group 1 Proisir Plate at Ellerslie last month before her first career defeat came when sixth in the Epsom at Randwick two weeks ago.
The 4-year-old was found to have suffered a case of the thumps after that race but was back to normal the next day and Marsh and his team have been aiming her at taking on Aussie superstar Sheza Alibi in Saturday week’s mega-rich race for 4-year-olds only at Randwick.
Her withdrawal from the Golden Eagle is a second, but obviously far less distressing, blow for Well Written’s co-owners Yulong, the global racing giant, having tragically lost their dual Oaks winner Ohope Wins after a freak accident in Saturday’s Caulfield Cup in Melbourne.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.