A canter at Cranbourne followed by x-rays has ruled favourite Big Sky out of Victoria’s premier two-year-old race.
The Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr-trained colt was favourite to win the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) on Saturday, but Price was not happy with the colt after he cantered at Cranbourne on Friday morning.
Big Sky was given the tick of approval by Racing Victoria vets on Thursday morning in which all 20 acceptors for the race go through a pre-race inspection.
But in less than 24 hours, Price was not happy with the colt’s action.
“I had a little canter with him this morning and his action is not what it should be,” Price told SENTrack.
“We know by looking at the data, on Tuesday morning his stride was a little shorter than it should be, but I was looking more at knees this morning and we have had them x-rayed.
“There’s a little bit of immaturity near front, off-front, there’s enough there to say I need a second opinion of what’s going on with that knee.
“We think we can see a small little flake of bone in there.
“I’m not sure we need to do, but what I do know is that horse will not be running on Saturday and will be going to the paddock.”
Price said it did not matter if the race was a Group 1 for two-year-olds or a mile maiden, all horses in his stable are treated the same.
“I wouldn’t ask any horse to do anything I wasn’t 100 per cent happy with, especially a two-year-old baby,” Price said.
“He’s very talented, he might be a Group 1 horse as a three-year-old.
“Regardless of anything in the future, he will not run tomorrow, and the information is ‘black and white’.
“It is disappointing, but it would be disappointment times ten if I was to run him and get a poor result, number one, and to see him pull-up poorly number two.
“He’s a young horse and we need to look after him.”
In a market reshuffle, Guest House, the stablemate of Big Sky, is now the $4.60 favourite ahead of Unit Five ($5.50) and Closer To Free ($6.50).
After completing their inspections, RV vets have ruled the Ben, Will and J D Hayes-trained filly Torture as unsuitable to race while the Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained Tough Romance was given the all-clear.
The Phillip Stokes-trained Stretan Ruler, who was first emergency, was withdrawn on Thursday to run in the Group 2 Silver Slipper Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
