Dubai: The connections of Investec Derby (G1) hopeful Zawraq face an anxious 36-hour wait to discover the consequences of an injury scare suffered by the second-favourite on Tuesday.
Owned by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, the unbeaten son of Shamarda was found to be to some extent lame on his return to the yard.
The Dermot Weld-trained colt, a 9/2 chance behind market leader Golden Horn (7/4), satisfactorily completed his final workout ahead of Saturday’s colts’ Classic at Epsom before he was taken to his box.
Revealing details of the incident, Angus Gold, racing manager to Shaikh Hamdan, told RTE Sport: “He did a bit of work this morning with Pat Smullen, he did it fine and walked back to the yard OK, but when the head lad came back into his box, he just thought he took a lame step.
“He did his work fine, had a pick of grass back at the yard, but they just felt he wasn’t 100 per cent when they trotted him up.
“He has been taken to the vets for X-rays and scans and they came back fine, they didn’t show up anything apart from a small mark on the inside of his near-fore cannon bone, so hopefully he has just given himself a knock,” he added.
“He’s being iced but we will obviously know more over the next 36 hours or so. It was his final piece of work so he’s done everything he needs to do and is a fit horse.”
Gold, who is based at the Shaikh Hamdan-owned Shadwell Stud at Thetford in Norfolk, added: “We are hoping to get him to the Derby but we just wanted to make everyone aware of what has happened.
“We’ll see if anything comes to light in the next 36 hours.”
