Godolphin have been dealt a hammer blow with the news that their Melbourne Cup hope All The Good will miss the race.
News broke earlier in the week that the Caulfield Cup winner had suffered a setback but Sheikh Mohammed's operation were hoping that some intensive treatment would enable him to take his place in the line-up.
However, x-rays have revealed that the five-year-old entire has a hairline fracture of the cannon bone.
‘The latest news on All The Good is not great. He will miss the race,’ said Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor.
After winning the rearranged Ebor at Newbury, the Newburgh Handicap, plans were put in place to prepare All The Good for Australia.
And things looked rosy for connections when, under a great ride from Kerrin McEvoy, All The Good won the Caulfield Cup, considered to be the best trial for the big race.
However, bin Suroor found the horse to be slightly lame when he checked him out on Wednesday night.
‘He was unsound three days ago, missed his work on Thursday and today he has done nothing,’ said Bin Suroor.
‘The last round of x-rays have shown up a tiny hairline fracture of the cannon bone though.
‘He was the perfect horse. I believed in my heart that this was the horse that would run very well in the Melbourne Cup.
‘He won the Caulfield Cup and he was improving all the time. When he won at Newbury he won easy and then he won the Group One in Australia - we just have no luck in this race.
‘We will try and again and again and again.’
Another European challenger whose participation is in some doubt is Jane Chapple-Hyam's Yellowstone.
While Chapple-Hyam is now based in England, she is in fact Australian but is unhappy that Racing Victoria's chief vet Dr Paul O'Callaghan has yet to give her charge the all-clear to take his place in the line up.
The former Aidan O'Brien inmate will now have to prove his fitness in a gallop at Flemington on Saturday morning.
Things appear to be going smoothly in the O'Brien camp though as Septimus came through his latest workout with Alessandro Volta and Honolulu with flying colours.
After being sat in behind the pair Johnny Murtagh asked the Irish St Leger winner to quicken up and he did so in good style.
‘He just needed to move up and do a little bit today,’ said O'Brien.
‘I think if you look at the replay they just lengthened without being asked.’
Murtagh is confident Septimus has now fully settled into his surroundings.
‘He feels the same level he has been during the season,’ he said.
‘I was very happy with how he pulled up. He had a nice blow (but) blew off quickly.’
O'Brien also revealed that he would not be too upset by an outside stall when the draw is made on Saturday.
‘You don't want to be in a position where you're held and you get caught in and if the pace does steady you just have to sit there and suffer,’ he said.
‘If it happens it happens but in an ideal world you like to have a bit of room so if the race does start to slow up you can just keep the tempo going.’
