Group 1-winning sire Shellscrape forced back to track after aborted breeding career Racehorse Shellscrape had a failed career at stud. GROUP 1-winning sire Shellscrape has been virtually shamed back to the racetrack because almost half his foals were stump-tailed freaks. Now trained at Cranbourne by Nikki Burke, and running at Flemington tomorrow, the plug was pulled on Shellscrape's breeding career because 30 per cent of foals were born either without tails or with stump-sized tails. Deciding Shellscrape's stumpy-tailed progeny might make their sire a commercial dud, his owner Geoff Grimish decided to nip that career in the bud and prepare for a racing return. Burke said it seemed unfair Shellscrape was unable to continue his stud career, but is grateful to have been selected to train him. "I can't really see a reason why foals with no tails can't race," Burke said. Maybe it has something to do with their balance, but I really can't find a reason. Geoff chose me I guess to give me a bit of a chance with a nice horse. It's a pretty bizarre story. Burke said it didn't appear the no-tail foals were a genetic fault. Shellscrape's got a tail. In fact he has a magnificent tail," she said. Formerly trained by Chris Waller, Shellscrape won the Group 1 Galaxy at Randwick in 2010. Burke guessed he served about 60 mares. The six-year-old stood at Wattle Grove Stud in Berrima, NSW, for a fee of $8800. Burke said the greatest battle with Shellscrape had been to jolt his mind back to racing mode. "The trick has been to convince him to want to do it again," she said. But he seemed to want to run in Adelaide the other day (first-up 10th of 13 over 1100m). It might just take a few runs for him to get a bit of match practice. Shellscrape is a $61 chance with TAB fixed odds for tomorrow's Listed Straight Six (1200m) at Flemington.