Shocking out of Cup again
03/12/2010 04:58:11 AM
Melbourne Cup winner Shocking has been withdrawn from Saturday's $1 million Australian Cup at Flemington and will be spelled until the spring.
The withdrawal of the horse marks the end of a bizarre chain of events which saw the horse scratched ahead of when the race was initially supposed to be run last Saturday because of a foot abscess.
The freak hailstorm which hit Flemington during last week's meeting saw the race postponed by a week and Kavanagh sought to have his horse re-instated into the field after it appeared to be recovering from the injury.
The decision played havoc with markets for the race, with Shocking re-instated at around the $10 mark for the weight for age event.
However, the abscess has flared again, meaning the horse will be unable to run. Kavanagh has taken a cautious approach and has decided to send the five-year-old for a spell.
He is the second horse to withdraw for the race (and possibly the first horse ever to be scratched fort he same race twice) after Our Aqaleem broke down during the week and had to be put down.
Heart of Dreams is expected to start favourite for the race.