The 2017 Caulfield Cup is already full of drama and intrigue before a single horse has taken to the parade ring as anticipation continues to build for one of the biggest events on the Australian racing calendar.
Japanese pre-race favourite Admire Deus has not only been ruled out of contention for the wealthy race, but is fighting for his life having broken down on Tuesday morning and requiring emergency surgery.
The unfortunate incident has caused big damage to the star galloper, tearing all ligaments in his pastern joint in his back leg.
“It was pretty gut-wrenching and me and my staff were pretty emotional,” said trainer Darren Weir.
“It is a very unusual injury, when I got to the vet he said he hadn’t seen one of these in a few years.
“The next 72 hours are very important for the horse.”
The seven-year-old was due to make his first run in Australia having carved out a career back in Japan.
Weir’s Warrnambool foreman Jarrod McLean says the incident really came up out of nothing and there’s little to no chance he’ll ever race again.
“It’s still touch and go,” said McLean.
“It’s a horrific injury and I would be surprised if he raced again.
“He was working with his mate Burning Front, and about 100m out, he came to his outside to join him and hopefully run past him.
“Johnny had him pulled up quite quickly, but kept him to his feet.”
McLean says that there was really nothing to blame and it’s just an unfortunate result from his final training run.
“Absolutely no criticism of the club, absolutely beautiful surface to gallop on, it’s just one of those things,” he reiterated.
Happening on the cusp of the barrier draw, the final field has now come down to 17 runners for the 2,400-metre race at Caulfield.
The famed Cup hasn’t had this few runners in nearly half a century, dating back to Beer Street’s win in 1970 with another sub 18-horse field as we have this weekend.
Doubling up with the barrier draw and the Admire Deus incident, the bookies market has been fluctuating more than the weather in Melbourne does in one day.
Just to make life more difficult for the punters, there are ten runners in the field with a Group 1 win to their name.
Initially sitting out towards double figures, the Aidan O’Brien-trained Johannes Vermeer has slipped into the role of short-priced favourite at $4.20 thanks to a nice draw at barrier three.
The five-year-old fell just short in the Caulfield Stakes last Saturday, absolutely flying home in the final 200 metres from the back of the pack but was just pipped at the post by a head.
Another Weir-trained entrant in Humidor has his name high in contention thanks to a comfortable win at the Makybe Diva Stakes last month, flying past Hartnell to take the post by over three lengths.
A seventh barrier draw isn’t the worst outcome either.
Amelie’s Star and Bonneval round out the runners sitting in single digits with the bookies and will start next to each other from barrier’s 13 and 14 respectively.
1. Humidor – Barrier 7, 56kg
2. Marmelo – Barrier 10, 55kg
3. Johannes Vermeer – Barrier 2, 54.5kg
4. Jon Snow – Barrier 6, 54.5kg
5. He’s Our Rokkii – Barrier 15, 54kg
6. Sir Isaac Newton – Barrier (17, 54kg
7. Ventura Storm – Barrier 4, 54kg
8. Wicklow Brave – Barrier 16, 54kg
9. Inference – Barrier 11, 53.5kg
10. Single Gaze – Barrier 12, 53kg
11. Bonneval – Barrier 14, 52.5kg
12. Hardham – Barrier 8, 52.5kg
13. Boom Time – Barrier 3, 52kg
14. Abbey Marie – Barrier 5, 51.5kg
15. Harlem – Barrier 1, 51.5 kg
16. Amelie’s Star – Barrier 13, 51kg
17. Lord Fandango – Barrier 9, 50kg
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