Popular Newcastle trainer Alan “Groovy” Scorse is trying to get himself back on track after a seven-month battle with cancer.
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And a spot in the $400,000 Provincial Championships final at Randwick on April 8 with What Could Be might be just what the doctor ordered.
What Could Be, of which Scorse is also a part-owner, will be one of several local chances in the $150,000 qualifier at Newcastle Racecourse on Wednesday.
The race comes as Scorse battles the effects of radiation treatment for a tumour on his optic nerve, just below his brain, discovered during a sinus operation last July.
Surgery to remove the tumour was ruled out because of the risk of blindness and its close proximity to the brain, meaning the 65-year-old was quickly treated with chemotherapy and radiation.
He said he was feeling “not too bad” and was hopeful of making a full recovery.
“I’m a bit up and down and I’m just battling through it at the moment,” Scorse said.
“I’ve finished my treatment but I’m just on the side-effects now, which is a bit ordinary.
“I got a pretty good report the other day, so I’ve just got to wait and see what happens, but so far so good.
“They think they’ve got charge of it but you never know with these things.
“They had to hit me with radiation and chemotherapy, so I got a double dose and it’s knocked me around a bit.
“We’re still fighting. I’ve come out the other end of it and I’ve just got to wait and see and try and get myself back on track now.
“I’ve lost a bit of weight and I’m having trouble eating and things like that, but they said it just takes time to get back. We’re just hoping at the moment.”
The battle continues a tough time for the former hoop, who rode 1269 winners, including two group 1s.
“In 2014 I had a heart attack out of the blue, so I’ve had a pretty shocking time since then,” he said.
“Hopefully we can get it all over and done with in the two and a half years and we can get back to normal.”
Scorse said his son, Mat, had helped him keep his team in work.
“He’s been terrific,” Alan said. “I still go to the track on fast mornings and I’ll do a slow morning if I feel up to it but it just depends how I feel when I get up.”
What Could Be will need to overcome his own obstacle, and a tough recent run, to be one of three finalists from the Newcastle race, which is the last Provincial Championships qualifier. The four-year-old gelding, which has three wins and four seconds in 13 starts, drew barrier 19 of 20, which will become 15 with emergencies taken out, for the 1400m race.
“He’s going to have to go back a long way to get in, but anyway, we’ll just see what happens,” Scorse said. “The horse is fit and well, we just need a bit of luck.”
He said What Could Be struggled on the “heavy 20” at Rosehill when ninth at the most recent qualifier on March 18 and he wanted a firmer track.
“He just doesn’t handle heavy tracks, but it’s one of those things, we had to get him through it and keep him racing,” he said. “He’s come through it all right so hopefully we get a dry track on Wednesday and he can show what he can do.”
“He’s been a pretty good horse to us.
“His last three runs have been his worse but two of them have been on heavy tracks.
“I think he will run a nice race on a dry track.
“It’s a pretty solid field. They are all the same, everyone’s in there trying to get a spot in the final.”
