Victorian Inter Dominion plans have been aborted by trainer Ray Harvey, with his top trotter The Penny Drops unlikely to race again before 2023.
Harvey said a minor tendon issue sidelined the tough six-year-old back in April and a further recent setback had just made getting him up for the November-December series too difficult.
“If you go to those races, you’ve got to be 100 per cent otherwise you’ve got no hope,” Harvey said.
“He banged his (other) leg in the swimming pool and it just blew up for a week.
“I was flat out for time then anyway. And with that extra week off I was just way behind time, so I just gave it up.”
The Penny Drops’ last start was a victory in the Group 2 Charlton Trotters Cup during April when he prevailed after an exciting battle with Havehorsewilltravel.
He was then scratched from the Group 2 Bendigo Trotters Cup because of the tendon issue.
Harvey and The Penny Drops were central figures in the 2021 Inter Dominion Trotting Championship series in New South Wales, with the son of Danny Bouchea winning a heat at Newcastle before running sixth in the final as the third favourite for the race.
The Stawell hobby horseman has won just 23 races as a trainer since taking out a licence in season 2003-04, with The Penny Drops responsible for 16 of them.
Harvey is hopeful of having The Penny Drops back racing early next year.