Drum may not race again

Press, 17 November 1981, Page 30

Drum may not race again

PA Hastings The Hastings galloper. Drum, is to be spelled for at least 12 months and may never race again.

The War Hawk II gelding has had his present preparation halted by a recurring leg injury. He injured the tendon in his near foreleg when a close second in the Air New Zealand Stakes at Ellerslie last February.

Since then he has been a day-by-day proposition, - according to his trainer. Don Sellwood.

Drum has been progressing well and Sellwood was getting him ready for January’s Auckland Cup, a race he won this year. But the injury flared up again after the horse had given an exhibition gallop at Saturday's Woodville meeting.

“He didn’t pull up the best after the gallop." said a disappointed Sellwood yesterday. “It’s the tendon playing up, and instead of breaking him down completely, we'll turn him out.”

Drum is owned by Sellwood in partnership with Messrs Pat Donnelly and Wayne Pike, of Hastings, and Mr Ken Pike, of Australia.

The horse has won 14 races from only 28 starts and close on $lBO,OOO in stakes. Drum is a six-year-old now and will .be seven, rising eight if he comes back. “What upsets me most, is that I don’t think we ever saw the best of him," said Sellwood.

“It’s not every day that a horse that good comes along.”