STAR Tasmanian-bred stayer Mongolian Khan will be scratched from next Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup after taking ill after trackwork at Flemington this morning.
Mongolian Khan was rushed to the Werribee Veterinary Clinic after he tried to get down in his box after doing only two laps of trackwork.
It was first thought the four-year-gelding may have been suffering from the onset of colic but when he started scouring it suggested the problem might be peritonitis which is a far more serious illness.
Tasmanian breeder Graeme McCulloch, who bred the gelding, was in contact with connections as soon as he heard the news via Twitter this morning.
“I spoke to Graeme Forbes (spokesperson for the horse’s owner Laing Lin) and he said they were very concerned for the horse which is why they have rushed him to Werribee (clinic),” McCulloch said.
Mongolian Khan (Holy Roman Emperor-Centafit) was the only Australian-bred stayer guaranteed a start in the Melbourne Cup.
He won the Caulfield Cup to stamp himself as a genuine Melbourne Cup contender.
While Mongolia Khan was being transported to the Werribee Clinic his yearling half-brother bred by McCulloch (Magnus-Centafit) was being swamped by television cameras and racing journalists as he was being unloaded off a plane in Auckland this morning where he will head to a stud to be prepared for the NZ Yearling sales at Waikato.
Peter Staples