Detective Dux saves our Tommy from three-month ban over bleeding incident at trials

Trainer Mark Dux turned into detective Hercule Poirot to save Tommy Lincoln from being wrongly stood down for three months over a bleeding incident at Albion Park on Monday.

Lincoln Farms’ Brisbane flag bearer returned from a break with a terrific trial win, sprinting fast up the home straight to beat four rivals in a 1:54.5 mile rate.

But when he returned to scale he had blood all over his nose and the course vet declared him a bleeder and stewards stood him down for the mandatory three months.

When Dux hosed the horse down, however, he quickly discovered Tommy Lincoln had a big slice out of the bottom of his nose.

“There was that much blood everywhere, all over his nose, you couldn’t see it before that. But when I showed it to the vet she said no, I don’t think it had any bearing, his heart rate was too high.”

It wasn’t until Dux was driving home that he became convinced that Tommy must have hit his head on the mobile gate during the score-up.

“I’ve never had any issues with him bleeding before so I sent a photo of the injury to a couple of vets when I got home and rang the stewards.”

But Dux’s master stroke came when he took his team to the Albion Park races the next day.

“I thought I’ll just go and look at the mobile gate. And sure enough there was blood on No. 4, where he was drawn.

“He had to be already bleeding when they said go. He must have been shaking his head up and down and sliced it.”

Mark Dux … “the evidence was compelling.”Dux said the evidence was compelling - the cut on his nose, blood on the mobile.

“And the blood wouldn’t have been all over his nose if he’d bled from the lungs, it would have been just out of his nostril.

“That, along with how well he trialled, wasn’t the sign of a horse who’d bled.”

Dux said it wasn’t surprising Tommy had a high heart rate after the trial.

“He runs everywhere, he’s not a walker, and he’d just charged off the track. The vet did his heart straight after we clipped him up and he was also probably frightened from the blood, there was so much of it he must have been sucking it in.”

Dux said he thought it was a no-brainer that Tommy’s bleed would be struck out when he submitted his report to the stewards with evidence he’d hit the gate.

Dux suspects Tommy Lincoln is not the first horse to have injured himself on the mobile.

When Dux spoke to the chief steward the official questioned why the numbers on the gate hadn’t been fixed yet.

The way the six-year-old trialled, Dux is hoping Tommy can quickly regain his best form after a two-month break.

In revoking the three-month ban today, stewards ordered only that Dux sumbit a vet report to confirm Tommy Lincoln’s nose had recovered and that the horse trial again before racing, which will probably be on Friday week.

The winner of 16 races, eight in Brisbane, Tommy last raced on April 15 when, from a second line draw, he ran a fast-closing third behind Turn It Up and American Outlaw, beating home subsequent Flashing Red winner Hot And Treacherous .