Trainer Robert Heathcote was furious after Queensland racing officials scrapped an open company race in Brisbane for the second week in a row.
Racing Queensland deleted a 1050m event from Saturday’s Doomben card when only four horses accepted on Wednesday.
It follows a similar decision to scrap an open staying race at Doomben a week earlier.
Heathcote had planned to use the sprint as a campaign starting point for Excellantes en route to the Keith Noud Quality in two weeks and George Moore Quality in a month.
Desleigh Forster was also hoping to run the smart Adebisi.
“Last week it was my horse Volkhere who was disadvantaged when the open staying race was scrapped. This week it is Excellantes,” Heathcote said.
“He has never won first-up and this race was going to be a vital lead-in to two black type races for him.”
Heathcote said he could have entered lesser performed horses to bulk up the field but opted to do the right thing.
“I played by the rules and look where it got me. They should be running open company races no matter what,” he said.
“This is a decision which makes no common sense. Surely a race between Adebisi and Excellantes would have attracted more attention than the rest of the card.”
Racing Queensland CEO Darren Condon said the race was deleted due to insufficient starters in accordance with local policy.
“But we have spoken with the Brisbane Race Club and they are willing to put on a special barrier trial for those horses who missed out on Saturday morning,” Condon said.