Four-year-old chestnut Don't Give A Damn has continued his impressive form, notching win No.6 in nine starts in the $50,000 Country Championships Wild Card (1280m) at Muswellbrook on Sunday.
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Ridden by dual Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Kerrin McEvoy, the $1.85 favourite overcame a pre-race hoof issue to lead all the way and beat My Tagoson ($31) by two lengths with Vega De Lago ($101) a nose away in third.
Don’t Give A Damn and My Tagoson have filled the last two places for the final of the $500,000 Newhaven Park Country Championship final (1400m) at Randwick on April 7.
Don't Give A Damn’s trainer, Danny Williams, said the horse was close to being scratched until a farrier alleviated a corn problem on the gelding’s front feet.
Speaking to Sky Racing post-race, Williams said: “I was 80 per cent sure I wasn’t coming yesterday [Saturday]. He wasn’t the best but we had a young farrier come in and changed his front shoes and did a bit with him and that was the turning point.”
Still, he said the Don't Give a Damn was only about 60 per cent fit for the race. “We don’t have to do anything with him now, just keep him sound,” he said. “The ground has been so firm that we’ve struggled to have him as good as we could.
“With corns you just can’t work them. Had I not gone to Moruya [to work] last week then I’m sure we wouldn’t have been here. It’s nice to have three in the final and very rewarding to get this horse in.”
Earlier in the day, jockey Noel Callow was treated for dehydration after collapsing following race two.
Callow collapsed after weighing in and was treated by ambulance officers. He was taken to Muswellbrook Hospital for further treatment.
