Mark Weaver, whose Weaver Bruscemi LLC shares ownership of the 4-year-old mare trotter Mission Brief, told harnessracing.com Monday afternoon that the two-time Dan Patch Award winner has suffered a leg injury and will miss the entire 2016 racing season.
Weaver said Mission Brief was at trainer Ron Burke's stable at Gaitway Farm in New Jersey when the injury was discovered about a week ago. He said Dr. Steve Bokman conferred with Burke and all the owners and it was decided to shut Mission Brief down for the year. Weaver said there were also a few offers on the table to sell the daughter of Muscle Hill, which have also now all been declined.
"She has an injury that is nothing major at all but she will not be able to race for a few months," said Weaver. "We considered selling her as a broodmare but after talking it over with all the owners, Ronnie (Burke) and the vet, it's almost certain she will be back to 100 percent. If it was 50-50 that she would come back we would probably sell her as a broodmare, but we've had other horses with similar injuries who came back to their old self.
"We were seriously considering selling her for a lot of money, more than any broodmare had ever been sold for. But at the end of the day, she's such a special individual and we've had so much success with some other ones, we decided to hold onto her and give her enough time and race her next year, here and/or overseas."
Owned by Weaver Bruscemi, Burke Racing Stable, Our Horse Cents Stable and J&T Silva Stables, Mission Brief has 19 wins and three seconds in 27 career starts with $1,599,587 in earnings. At two her nine victories included the $352,050 Merrie Annabelle and $500,000 Breeders Crown on her way to divisional honors. Last year at three her 10 wins included the $307,040 Elegantimage, $185,000 Zweig Filly and $174,000 Moni Maker while repeating divisional accolades. She also raced against her male peers in the Hambletonian, capturing her elimination before finishing second in the $1 million final.
"She probably could have been ready for the TVG and Breeders Crown (in late fall), but we're not going to even make the stakes payments this year and give her necessary time off to do right by her," concluded Weaver. "I think the ultimate goal is the Elitlopp next year, but it's hard to look even a week ahead. We think she can be a tremendous broodmare when the time comes, but we don't think her racing days are over."
http://www.harnessracing.com/news/missionbriefhurtwillmiss2016raceseason.html
