Office Bearer action clouds Farm victory

Saturday 1 December 2012, 4:17pm

Although Office Bearer made light work of his first Sydney appearance at Warwick Farm on Saturday, a suspect action could bring an abrupt end to a NSW racing career.

The three-year-old maintained his unbeaten record with an easy victory in the Cormack Packaging Handicap (1300m) but stewards have told Peter Moody's stable representative that the trainer will need to be interviewed before there are any more plans for the colt to race again in Sydney.

Chief steward Ray Murrihy said Office Bearer had an extravagant swinging near-foreleg that could seriously impeded other runners.

"That's an issue from a safety point of view, that it may well trip a horse or cause itself to fall," Murrihy told AAP.

He said the issue might be due to the horse running clockwise for the first time and it might not be a problem racing in the Victorian direction.

"It may well be something the horse matures and grows out of, too, so it's not necessarily always permanent," Murrihy said.

"But we've got to make a call about whether it poses a danger, and we wouldn't do that until we've seen spoken to the trainer."

A DVD of Office Bearer's performance will be sent to Moody for review.

Moody's Sydney representative Claire Cunningham noted the colt's unusual action but said he was still inexperienced.

"Every time he goes out he keeps improving, and he still looks like he's a little bit green (when he's) racing," she said.

"He was a little bit unbalanced around the turn, but it's very pleasing."

Jockey Josh Parr said Office Bearer found his footing quickly.

"It gave him the opportunity to get on the right leg and track the fence around, so I'm very pleased with the turn of foot he showed at the top of the track," he said.

– AAP

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