Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien is considering whether to send another horse to the Melbourne Cup after vets dramatically stopped Jan Brueghel from running in this year’s contest.
The news comes as Cox Plate record-breaker Via Sistina was officially withdrawn from the race that stops a nation on Wednesday.
The Chris Waller-trained mare set a track record to win the Cox Plate last Saturday in a performance that led to her being ranked the No.1 horse in the world.
Via Sistina was immediately installed as Melbourne Cup favourite, with her odds slashed to $5 despite not being a confirmed starter at Flemington on the first Tuesday in November.
‘Via Sistina officially ranked the world’s number 1 racehorse! The Cox Plate has always been her main target, to win it is nothing short of a dream,’ Yulong said in a statement on X.
‘Following this peak performance and after much consideration, it has been decided she will not contest the 2024 Melbourne Cup.’
Via Sistina will now target the Group 1 Champions Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on November 9.
Jan Brueghel had been ante-post favourite for the two-mile handicap since he extended his unblemished four-race career with a thumping win in England’s Betfred St Leger race in September.
Via Sistina (pictured winning the Cox Plate last Saturday) has been withdrawn from the Melbourne Cup in a decision that will disappoint many punters
Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien (pictured) has said he was left ‘staggered’ by the controversial decision to axe his entrant Jan Brueghel from the Cup – and he is now deciding whether to send another horse to compete in Australia’s biggest race
Jockey Ryan Moore was prepared to head straight across the Pacific on Saturday night after the Breeders Cup to take the ride; not only that, he was ready to get down to his lowest weight of 8st 7lbs (54kg) to partner the three-year-old.
But Coolmore’s best laid plans were ruined by Racing Victoria’s stewards following a workout at Werribee. Jan Brueghel was scanned on Saturday and O’Brien learnt about the decision when he arrived here in Del Mar on Monday night.
The stewards said the horse was ‘at a heightened risk of injury’ and would not reconsider their decision. The Melbourne Cup has had six fatalities in the past decade, including O’Brien’s 2019 Epsom Derby hero Anthony van Dyck.
It cost £130,000 ($A257,000) to ship Jan Brueghel to Australia – his owners will not be reimbursed for the payment – and O’Brien was staggered by the decision. This was supposed to be his first runner in the Melbourne Cup since 2020 and he may never try to win it again.
‘It was devastating, absolutely,’ said O’Brien. ‘It was unlucky for us, lucky for them. He was a Group One horse in a handicap with 8st 7lbs and Ryan Moore riding him. He was getting better every week and he’s only ever won by very little.
‘They made the decision and our vets didn’t agree with that. They said there was a shadow in front and a shadow behind (in his leg bones) but every three-year-old at this time of year has shadows and fissures.
‘There comes a point when it becomes ridiculous – the horsemen and women have been taken out of the picture. In this part of the world, horsemen decide. There are other parts of the world where a horse trots in front of a phone.
‘The phone videos the trot and the phone will tell you whether he is sound or not.’
Some bookmakers, including Paddy Power, took the decision to refund ante-post bets on Jan Brueghel but this was not the way O’Brien anticipated starting the biggest week of his year, as the pressure intensifies ahead of City Of Troy’s quest for immortality.
The owners have decided to rest Via Sistina (pictured after winning the Cox Plate) so she can run in the Champions Stakes at Flemington on November 9
City Of Troy had his first sight of Del Mar’s dirt track just after first light yesterday morning and was unusually sweaty as he completed a canter, then a half-speed gallop, around the course with O’Brien’s other Breeders Cup runners.
The winner of the Epsom Derby, Coral Eclipse and Juddmonte International was then checked over by racecourse officials, as will be the case for the rest of the week, before he runs in the $7million Classic on Saturday.
He is the only horse being talked about here, with every trainer who has a runner at the two-day meeting being asked for their view on whether City Of Troy can do what no other has done before and win The Classic after conquering Epsom.
‘Hopefully we have him prepared right,’ said O’Brien. ‘He’s by Justify, he gallops like him, he is open and long, he is a Derby winner, he has a lot of boxes ticked but we are under no illusions.
‘It wouldn’t be a problem with the sweating – sweating never bothers me. I’d rather they were sweating than not because it means they’re up for it, rather than coming here and floating around.
‘The Classic is going to be ferocious and he is going to have to be on his game. If he is in any way laid back you’ll get wiped out, so I’d rather he was a little bit edgy. It’s a big difference to any race he’d have run in before where we’d jump and want him to settle. ‘His canters will ramp up a little bit as we go through the week, I’d be very happy with what we saw from him this morning. We think we have done as much as we can to ask him to break well, it’s going to be very interesting.’
