Aidan O’Brien slams ‘ridiculous’ decision of Australian stewards to scratch Melbourne Cup favourite Jan Brueghel
AIDAN O’BRIEN has slammed the Australian officials who decided to scratch Jan Brueghel from the Melbourne Cup.
The horse was pulled out by vets who deemed he was at ‘heightened risk’ of injury after scanning his legs during a rigorous testing procedure.
Racing authorities in Melbourne have a strict set of veterinary tests in place that all international horses must pass if they are to be allowed to run in the Melbourne Cup.
The threshold on allowing a horse to run was raised significantly after a spate of fatal injuries in the ‘race that stops the nation’, including O’Brien’s former Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck, who broke down during the race and had to be put to sleep.
O’Brien has been reluctant to send horses down to Australia since the new checks were introduced and he was furious when they scratched Jan Brueghel, who would have gone off a hot favourite, from the line-up.
It cost around £120,000 to transport the St Leger hero Down Under for the race, and that money will now go down the drain.
Speaking at Del Mar, O’Brien said: “In this part of the world (USA), horsemen and women decide if a horse runs.
“In other parts of the world, a trot is filmed on a phone and the phone app will decide if they are sound or not.
“It was devastating when he was ruled out. It was unlucky for us and lucky for them.
“He was a Group 1 horse in a handicap with eight stone seven and Ryan Moore riding him, and he was getting better every week.
“They looked at scans and made a decision and our vets didn’t agree with them.
“Every three-year-old at this time will have shadows or fissures on their scans and there comes a point when it becomes ridiculous. The horse men and women are out of the picture.”
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