A Melbourne Cup hopeful had a worrying moment on the eve of Tuesday’s big race, after the horse appeared to trip over during a training session.
The concerning moment came after Onesmoothoperator had failed a vet test on Friday, but subsequent tests over the weekend had cleared the seven-year-old had been re-shod.
The Geelong Cup winner had been one of the favourites to win the race but has dropped off the prices of Buckaroo and the Willie Mullins trained Vauban, to around $9 due to a heel injury.
The horse had sustained a cut to its right hind heel bulb with Racing Victoria Stewards noting there had been a ‘change in the horse’s gait’.
But on Monday things almost took a turn for the worse after the horse was completing a training session on the beach.
In footage captured by Nine News, the horse, who will be ridden by 2019 Melbourne Cup winner Craig Williams, appears to lose his footing while wading his way through the sea.
Onesmoothoperator seemed to fall forward onto his front left leg, but quickly regained his composure striding around in the water before returning to his trainers, who stood watching him on the edge of the surf.
‘I thought he was going then,’ his horse trackworth said according to Channel Nine.
A Melbourne Cup hopeful had a worrying moment on the eve of Tuesday’s big race
Onesmoothoperator appeared to slip while he was completing a training session in the sea
But the horse appeared to quickly regather his composure and was seen walking back to his trainers on the beach uninjured
‘Did you see it? He tripped up!’
Some within the racing industry say that riding a horse in the sea helps the animal relax.
Racehorse trainer Gai Waterhouse told CNN: ‘Playing in the sea and sand lets the horses relax. It gives them something else to do other than running hard in circles.
She adds: ‘It is also particularly good for horses who may have been injured.’
Onesmoothoperator, who is trained by Brian Ellison and owned by Patrick Boyle recently arrived in Australia ahead of this week’s festival at Flemington.
After victory in Geelong in October, Onesmoothoperator can join an exclusive club of horses, which includes Media Puzzle, Americain and Dunaden as the only runners to complete the Geelong-Melbourne Cup double.
Twenty-three horses will run in Tuesday’s race after Athabascan was ruled out of the Flemington festival due to a heart issue.
