Red Verdon out of Melbourne Cup as Caulfield Cup winner Mer De Glace soars to top of Melbourne Cup ballot order
One Melbourne Cup runner has succumbed to injury as Mer De Glace jumped to first in the order of entry but will have to overcome a weights penalty if he is to repeat the first Cups double since 2001.
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Luckless British stayer Red Verdon is out of the Melbourne Cup because of a leg injury.
Racing Victoria stewards said standing scans taken at the University Of Melbourne “identified an emerging bone issue” in the horse’s off foreleg.
Ed Dunlop’s team then decided to immediately abandon Cup plans for Red Verdon, who suffered cuts to three legs during Saturday’s Caulfield Cup.
He was scratched from last year’s Melbourne Cup with a hoof abscess.
The horse will now return to England for further assessment.
Fellow British raider Gold Mount has been retired after suffering a leg injury in the Caulfield Cup.
Meanwhile, Mer De Glace’s Caulfield Cup victory has propelled the star stayer from 60th in the Melbourne Cup order of entry to equal-first, while also earning the Japanese raider a 1kg penalty.
Dominant at Caulfield, Mer De Glace will now carry 56kg in the November 5 Cup.
Racing Victoria’s Greg Carpenter said the nature of the five-year-old’s triumph warranted a penalty.
“Mer de Glace was enormously impressive in winning a very competitive renewal of the Caulfield Cup,” he said.
“The first six placegetters officially finished within two lengths of each of other and there was a litany of hard-luck stories from the beaten runners.
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“The 1kg penalty is the same given to Caulfield Cup winners Boom Time (2017), Mongolian Khan (2015), Dunaden (2012) and Viewed (2009) over the last decade.
“Mer De Glace faces a new challenge in the Melbourne Cup over 3200m at Flemington in 15 days and a new wave of challengers given 17 of the top 24 horses in the current Melbourne Cup order of entry did not compete in the Caulfield Cup.”
Mer De Glace will attempt to become the first horse to win both the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups in the same season since Ethereal in 2001.
Since then 12 Caulfield Cup winners have contested the Melbourne Cup, with only one finishing in the top three.
Only Elvstroem (fourth in 2004), Master O’Reilly (eighth in 2007), Viewed (seventh in 2009), Fawkner (sixth in 2013) and Best Solution (eighth in 2018) have managed to finish in the top 10 in the Melbourne Cup after winning the Caulfield Cup.
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Vow and Declare earned $700,000 for his Caulfield Cup second placing and climbed from 36th to 30th in the order of entry.
Hush Writer was not penalised for his St Leger win at Randwick because the race does not carry black type status. The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian-Bott trained stayer remains in 53rd position in the order of entry.
The third acceptances for the Melbourne Cup will be on Monday.