Sydney Cup fancy Campaldino will need to pass a fitness test to take his place in the two-mile feature at Randwick after a routine veterinary inspection revealed the presence of cardiac arrhythmia.
Co-trainer Adrian Bott said there was no sign of the issue following his second placing in Saturday’s Chairman’s Handicap (2600m) and the horse had no history of the affliction.
“He presented with cardiac arrhythmia in the tests this morning,” Bott said.
“He’ll go through the ECG process. He was checked immediately following the race (on Saturday) and all the vital signs, everything was all in order.
“It’s a bit of an unusual case. He’s never had any history. It’s something that has just popped up.
“He hasn’t done any strenuous exercise, but the stewards did their Sydney Cup inspections (on Tuesday) morning and that’s when it was detected.”
Blood samples have been taken from Campaldino, who will need to gallop in front of racing officials on Thursday before he can be cleared to race.
Bott said their focus was on doing the right thing by the horse, and Campaldino would only line up in the Sydney Cup (3200m) if they were satisfied he was one hundred per cent healthy.
If he does get the green light, the stable expects a competitive performance from last year’s Brisbane Cup (3200m) winner.
“It’s the program and campaign build-up we have used successfully before to win the Cup with Knights Order and The Offer, so he has followed that path and seems to be peaking at the right time,” Bott said.
“It was an excellent run on Saturday. He is proven at the two-miles. Bit of an awkward draw but he’s got tactical speed to offset that.”
Campaldino ($8) came up with barrier 14 at Tuesday’s draw with Tim Clark booked for the ride.
Favourite Mr Monaco ($5) has the outside alley in the field of 16, although he did sit wide to win the Manion Cup (2400m) last start, while the other fancied runners, River Of Stars and Soul Of Spain, came up with gates six and 12 respectively.
