Queensland three-year-old Eric The Eel has pulled up lame after the Caulfield Guineas and will return home without another run.
Trainer Stuart Kendrick says Eric The Eel has inflammation of the near side front leg and will have a break.
Eric The Eel finished second-last in Saturday’s Caulfield Guineas after tailing the field for most of the race.
“It is just one of those things. I went to Melbourne last Friday and he had eaten well and worked strongly,” Kendrick said.
“But I knew at the 800 metres he was in trouble and something had to be wrong.
“To put it in perspective Alligator Blood ran second. You would expect him to beat my horse at 1600 metres but on their Queensland form you would expect the margin to be a couple of lengths not ten.”
Kendrick said had Eric The Eel run on strongly on Saturday he would have pressed on to the 2019 Victoria Derby.
“Now he can go for a spell and come back for the Queensland Derby,” he said.
“The good thing is he will be OK. It really is a funny game racing as we had five winners last weekend and now this has happened.”