Les Bridge has revealed Classique Legend is out of the autumn with a leg injury but the Hall Of Fame trainer is confident the star sprinter will be back to chase another Everest title.
The gelding sprained a suspensory ligament during the running of this year’s $15 million race in which he finished fifth to Nature Strip and Bridge said the horse was already undergoing treatment.
“He’s convalescing,” Bridge said on RadioTAB on Wednesday.
“He will miss the T J Smith and those races, and I’ll just bring him back and have another crack at The Everest with him.”
Bridge confirmed the suspensory issue was picked up straight after The Everest and said Classique Legend was undergoing laser treatment as part of his rehabilitation.
The recovery process is expected to take six months, ruling the six-year-old out of the major Sydney autumn carnival sprints.
However, Bridge says ligament problems are much easier to treat than tendon damage and he is confident Classique Legend can mount another serious Everest assault in the spring.
“You have a much greater success rate than you do with tendons,” Bridge said.
“We’ll get him right.”
Classique Legend has had a chequered passage since his brilliant victory in the 2020 The Everest.
He travelled to Hong Kong shortly after but failed to acclimatise so owner Bon Ho sent him back to Bridge’s Randwick stables earlier this year.
Bridge faced a momentous battle to get him fit for his Everest title defence and did an outstanding job to get the horse to the race, given he had competed just once in the preceding 12 months.
The injury to Classique Legend came on the back of news that two-time Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Addeybb won’t be returning to Sydney for the autumn after also suffering an injury setback.
The tough gelding is recovering from a hock infection and won’t be ready in time.