Champion trainer Caspar Fownes has been forced to consign Lucky Nine's intended third tilt at the Sprinters Stakes to the waste bin due to the size of the quarantine stabling at Niigata racecourse in Japan.
Lucky Nine has run well twice before without luck in the Group One race, which is normally contested at Nakayama in Tokyo, but the race has been moved this year due to works being carried out at Nakayama.
Fownes made a reconnaissance trip to inspect the facilities last weekend and was happy with everything he saw - except the quarantine stables. "The track was great, everything looked right except for the tiny boxes for the horses in the quarantine section," Fownes said on Wednesday.
"Niigata quarantine has never been used but I fully expected the facilities would be exactly like those I've seen at Fuchu, Nakayama or Osaka, and they are outstanding. To be honest, I was shocked at how small these were and I would never be comfortable sending any horse there.
"The Japan Racing Association [JRA] has always been brilliant when I've gone there before, they couldn't do enough to help, so I hate to knock them but that wasn't acceptable."
Fownes asked the JRA if two of the quarantine stables could be made into one by knocking out a partition but that request has been refused, twice.
"It wasn't a structural wall, just a partition made of plywood and mesh - you could kick it out yourself," Fownes said. "But they said it couldn't be done as it's an earthquake zone and the walls can't be touched."
The JRA offered Fownes the option of quarantining Lucky Nine in Tokyo, then floating him by road to Niigata, about 260km to the north.
"But he still would have had to arrive a couple of days before racing and live in those tiny boxes, so that option didn't solve the problem," Fownes said. "It's a situation where he could easily get cast in the box so, for the sake of the horse's welfare, the whole idea is off now."
Fownes said his plan had always been to tackle the Sprinters Stakes with the rising eight-year-old and he did not have a "plan B".
"It's such a shame because the horse himself is really flying, and I didn't see this sort of problem coming," he said. "There's no backup plan, so we'll just have to stay home and concentrate on having the old boy perfect for December here at Sha Tin."
Meanwhile, the Jockey Club announced on Wednesday that the feed company involved in arsenic contaminations that brought about positive tests in June has reimbursed connections whose horses were disqualified. David Hall-trained Hit A Home Run (second) and Berlinski (first) were the two horses disqualified.
