Argyle over foot abscess but he has another bad draw to overcome on Tuesday evening

Argyle had a good excuse for finishing only fifth at his last start but he’s still going to need a lot of luck to win at Albion Park tomorrow evening.

Drawn the outside of the arm in the eighth race, trainer Mark Dux says the horse will have to be driven quietly.

But he still expects Argyle to go a good race given what came to light after his last run on May 18.

“He was really sore the next day, he couldn’t walk.”

By the afternoon it was apparent an abscess was starting to blow out of his foot through a hole in the coronet band.

“He must have felt it during the race to be so sore the next morning. There was no indication of a problem before the race so obviously the run brought it out.”

The finding certainly helped explain why Argyle didn’t finish off his race as Dux was expecting.

“When he came out, and moved up really nicely, I thought he was going to be in the money.”

But when Argyle only battled up the home straight, at first Dux put it down to having his momentum stopped when a horse came out in front of him.

“Mathew (Neilson) just had to grab him for a moment and he couldn’t pick up again.”

The run took on an even better light when his foot problem surfaced.

Dux said it wasn’t like Argyle went badly - he still paced his last mile of the 1660 metres in 1:53.78 - pacing his first half in 56.91 and last half in 56.86.

Whether the horse will be quite as sharp on Tuesday is up for debate considering he missed a few days’ work while his foot recovered.

While you could never say for sure why the horse developed the abscess, Dux said it was interesting that his blacksmith noted he’d come across a number of horses with similar issues since the track surface at Albion Park was top dressed.

It was possible sand found its way into cracks in horses’ feet before it became packed down.

“I’m happy with him now but the run will do him good. We’ll drive him quietly early then play it by ear, depending on how he travels in the running.”

Dux said Argyle was in a tricky place in the ratings.

While he was the highest rated in Tuesday’s field, which was up to rating 70, it meant that under the preferential barrier draw he copped the worst alley.

To get relief in the draw he would have to race in a field of much better pacers, possibly up to rating 90.

Argyle races at 7.10pm NZ time at Albion Park on Tuesday.