Written by Paul Vettise
Felicia (Unencumbered) has faced daunting challenges in her young life and the 3-year-old has come out the other side to repay the unwavering faith of her connections.
The filly has had to overcome adversity to return to the track after she was sidelined for 15 months, following a highly-encouraging start, and her last-start return to winning form at Caulfield was testament to both her courage and talent.
Felicia began her career in Western Australia and was unbeaten in both of her 2-year-old starts at Morphettville and Gawler for trainer Matthew Seyers before her progress was halted by knee surgery.
She was subsequently sent to the Mornington stable of Dean Binaisse, who has enjoyed previous success with training programs tailor-made for horses with such issues. Group performers Anabaa’s Legacy (NZ) (Anabaa {USA}) and Fab Fevola (Falvelon) two past examples.
“Felicia is lucky to be here at all. She had a routine knee operation and then she got an infection in the joint and they rushed her back,” he said. “They gave her a heap of drugs and she wasn’t responding.”
Advice ignored
Veterinary advice was to put her down, but connections thankfully ignored that and she was sent to Golden Plains veterinary clinic for further surgery.
Felicia made good progress with an expectation of a broodmare career, but further treatment subsequently rekindled hopes of a return to racing.
“She was running around the paddock and they thought with a water walker, beach work and the programs we’ve got in place for horses with knee issues they would send her to me for rehab,” Binaisse said.
“Some of her owners own a product called 4CYTE, which is made from green lipped muscles and she’s on that every day for joint lubrication.”
Dean Binaisse
A co-owner Dan Bright, who races under his Interpath Horse banner, operates an animal health company whose products are marketed all over the world.
“We got her up and going and the owners thought they may get a run out of her, but I was pretty confident with the way she was responding to this training that we would get a bigger result,” Binaisse said.
“She only trots and canters on the track and the rest of the time she spends on the water walker here or down the beach in the heavy sand.
“She only trots and canters on the track and the rest of the time she spends on the water walker here or down the beach in the heavy sand.” – Dean Binaisse
“She only zips up on the grass over 600 metres, but only when the track is soft. It’s the same at the races, if the track’s firm she won’t go.”
Felicia placed in three of her first four starts for Binaisse before she deservedly broke through at Caulfield on Saturday with a powerful display under jockey Craig Williams.
“When you’ve got people like Craig annoying you and trying to get on the horse you know you’ve got a decent one,” Binaisse said.
Felicia
“She’ll have a little break now and if it’s still wet when we bring her back we’ll aim for that. She will have all the summer and autumn off.
“She’s been super consistent and unlucky and been right there. She still needs to fill out, she’s quite lean and trim and there’s not a lot of her for a sprinter.
“After a really nice spell she will thicken up and mature and improve. It was only her seventh career start on Saturday so she’s done a really good job.
“I’m really proud of the team and everyone around us, there’s a lot of work gone in to a horse like this. She’s 100 per cent sound and we’ve had no issues with the knee, it’s pretty exciting going forward to get hold of a decent horse again.”
