The two sides of the Melbourne Cup story went on show the morning after the race with English horse Jukebox Jury hobbling around his stable yard as the winner Dunaden celebrated with a lively trot around the Werribee training track.
Jukebox Jury, one of the best-performed of the visiting horses, finished near the tail of the Cup field after injuring his near foreleg during the race.
Part-owner Colleen Bamford spent some two hours with Jukebox Jury on Wednesday as a veterinarian treated the horse.
She said the problem appeared to be behind the horse’s knee, but there was no swelling and it is thought the injury is not career-ending.
“The vet did a nerve block around the knee and he was sound afterwards, so it seems that’s where the problem is,” Bamford said.
It is expected a scan will reveal the exact nature of the injury.
Plans for Jukebox Jury to stay in Australia for the next few weeks and then go to Hong Kong to race in December have been shelved and he is now likely to return to England as early as next week.
The news was better for Bamford’s other runner Americain who she owns with her husband Kevin and fellow Melburnians Gerry Ryan and his wife Val.
Americain, the 2010 Melbourne Cup winner, finished a gallant fourth and is now likely to remain in Australia to be prepared for an autumn campaign in Sydney and Melbourne.
His handler Stephanie Nigge, who supervised his entire preparation in Melbourne, said she couldn’t think of his fourth placing as a defeat.
“I think he was the best horse,” she said.
“For us it is like he won.”
Americain turned in the best closing sectional times of the race and finished less than two lengths from the winner after coming from a hopeless position with 800m to run.
Runner-up Red Cadeaux also came through the Cup unscathed and is a possible runner at the Hong Kong International meeting in December.
Handler Steve Nicholson said plans were on hold, but the horse is owned by former Hong Kong Jockey Club chairman Ronald Arculli which could influence trainer Ed Dunlop to consider the meeting at which his champion mare Snow Fairy is a likely runner.
Godolphin foreman Tommy Strang said both Modun, who finished last, and Lost In The Moment, who was sixth, had pulled up well, if a little stiff.
The Luca Cumani team reported that both Manighar (fifth) and Drunken Sailor (12th) had returned in good order.
The Cumani-trained Bauer, who unluckily missed a place in the Cup field, will run in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) at Flemington on Saturday along with another stablemate, Sahara Sun.
Manighar, Drunken Sailor and Bauer will remain in Australia, although plans for their future racing are undecided.
AAP TURF
