Paua Of Oscar Out Of Zoom Top Maiden

A philosophical David Jones has had to withdraw Paua Of Oscar from Tuesday's Zoom Top Maiden Final (440m) at Goulburn after injuring a toe in his final hit out on Sunday.

"I've been in this game all my life and understand these things happen but it doesn't make it any easier," said a matter of fact Jones on Monday morning.

Blasting his way into Tuesday's $10,000 to-the-winner finale with a slashing 24.76 heat success last week, just half-a-length outside the time-standard set by the Neil Staines-trained Lightning Vision, Jones told the Recorder he was expecting a forward performance in the final from his promising juvenile.

"He's trialled 24.65 at Goulburn and every time I've put him around he's improved … he didn't have it all his own way in his heat either," added Wagga Wagga-based Jones.

"It was a freak thing. I just had him in the runs on Sunday galloping with his brother and he's injured a toe … he's been to the vet, he'll be off for a good six weeks it looks.

"There's five in the litter and would you believe Paua Of Oscar has been the only one that's gone straight through to racing without a hiccup, until now … the rest of them have just had slight issues but they're all back in work now."

A November ‘17 son of My Bro Fabio and Paua To Admit, Paua Of Oscar's scratching opens the door for the Jodie Lord-trained Conrod Straight to gain a berth in Tuesday's final, the son of Crash second to Lightning Vision in his qualifier last week.

"The main thing is the dog is okay and not in pain – it's not easy to find a vet on a Sunday!" added Jones.

"The whole litter is showing a lot, I'll look to move a few of them to city (trainers) in the near future I'd say. I've actually got a second litter out of Paua To Admit to Aston Dee Bee that are four months old … three dogs and eight bitches. I'm after $3,800 for them, with the way prizemoney is now that's just a couple of races. That cross works, I think they are great value."

PAWNOTE: Paua To Admit is a daughter of Fabregas and Paua To Terrify, responsible for an all-star cast of top gallopers. Paua To Terrify is a daughter of Spiral Nikita and Steve White's champion bitch Paua To Burn.