End of the road for champion Quinnie
Champion pacer Im Themightyquinn is seriously lame and trainer Gary Hall has announced the $4.4 million stake-earner will almost certainly be retired on the eve of Gloucester Park's summer carnival.
The gelding, a winner of more than 40 races, pulled up sore in his preliminary to a work-out at Hall's Serpentine training complex yesterday and a veterinarian was called.
"Quinnie appears to have major problems in his hind legs," Hall said.
"We can't pinpoint the exact troubles at this stage.
"He will undergo extensive tests, but I'd definitely declare he will never race again.
"The trouble flared before he'd even got to work at speed.
"I've seen similar hind leg soreness in other pacers. Nine out of 10 never come back when they've got problems like this."
Im Themightyquinn, raced by a WA syndicate, has won three Inter Dominion Championships and was in line to next year equal the record four Inters titles achieved by Blacks A Fake.
Quinnie, driven in nearly all his races by Hall's son Gary Jr, has also won three WA Pacing Cups, three Fremantle Cups and two Auckland Cups.
He pulled up with foot tenderness at Gloucester Park last month, but was back in training for the WA Pacing Cup-Fremantle Cup double in January.
"He's been very durable," Hall Sr said. "Last year he came back from a heart fibrillation which caused him to be eased out of a Byford trial.
"Two months ago, his legs swelled up and vets diagnosed he had been bitten by a spider. He shrugged that off. But Quinnie's now nine and showing the wear and tear of a great career. He's by far the best I've trained, and I've never seen one better."
