Mitch Freedman's talented grey stayer Southern Moon will miss the upcoming spring carnival and a potential shot at the Melbourne Cup after suffering a tendon injury.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Freedman said the horse had sustained the issue during light work and that it would now be a long road to recovery for last year's Victoria Derby runner-up.
"It was just a bit unusual how he got it, he'd only been in trotting and cantering. He's just on a rehab program now," Freedman said.
"Hopefully he is sort of back and racing around this time of year next year."
Southern Moon underwent surgery for bone chips following his second placing in the Derby and hasn't been seen at the races since.
Freedman said the tendon injury was unrelated to the earlier issues.
"That felt really good when he returned to work," he said.
"It's really disappointing, but at the end of the day (the owners) have had a horse that has run second in a Derby too. You take the good with the bad, I suppose."
Freedman, who has been based at the Ballarat Turf Club training complex since 2017, revealed some of the grand plans with the son of Puissance de Lune.
"Originally when he came in before everything was going on with this coronavirus, we were planning to take him to Queensland for possibly a race or two... spell him up there and then get him ready for some country cups in the spring," he said.
"And then after all this has happened he would have probably been an ideal horse to try and head towards maybe a Melbourne Cup with a light weight because it's more than likely they'll struggle for internationals this year."
Southern Moon has only won a maiden at Donald, but has collected more than $430,000 for connections from just six starts.
Freedman has another star of the stable stepping out this weekend. Broadwayandfourth, which raced in last year's group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes, is first-up from a spell at Caulfield on Saturday.
Meanwhile, VRC Oaks third place-getter Moonlight Maid is on a path towards the Australasian Oaks on May 2.