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This year’s Caulfield cup runner-up, Scottish, won’t contest the Melbourne Cup next week with trainer Charlie Appleby saying the horse has been pulled out of the race.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s global racing empire, Godolphin, announced on Wednesday that the horse would forego next week’s nation-stopping race and instead compete in the $2 million Emirates Stakes, which is held the following weekend.
“Scottish has continued to do well since the Caulfield Cup and we are happy to have him dropping back in distance from 2400 metres to 2000 metres for the Emirates,” said Appleby.
Even with Scottish no longer in contention for the Cup, the Godolphin stable still have six entrants left vying for a place in the race that stops a nation.
That list is headed by Hartnell, the current favourite to take home the winner’s purse of $3.6 million. Secret Number and Beautiful Romance, two of the other horses in the stable, are both expected to line up alongside their fellow Godolphin contender.
Other Godolphin horses Qewy and Oceanographer are right on the cusp, while Tally, the sixth horse in the Godolphin line-up, is unlikely to start in Australia’s richest horse race.
The final field for the Melbourne Cup will be announced this Saturday.
Scottish will now firm as one of the favourites for the Emirates Stakes, which will be run on Saturday, November 5.
The Godolphin group will be even more confident of picking up a victory in the $2 million race with Chris Waller giving superstar mare Winx the rest of the Spring Carnival off after sustaining a minor abrasion in her second-straight Cox Plate win. However, there are some rumours that Winx could be a surprise inclusion in the Emirates Stakes.
Formally known as the Mackinnon Stakes, the Emirates Stakes was run on the first day of the spring carnival until this year.
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