Anthony Freedman’s hopes of a second Karaka Million victory have been dashed with Minaj scratched from Sunday’s feature at Ellerslie in Auckland.
Freedman announced on Twitter that Minaj had a temperature on Wednesday morning.
“Unfortunately Minaj has spiked a temperature and is out of Karaka Million very disappointing for all concerned,” Freedman said.
The Freedman-trained Ockham’s Razor won the $NZ1 million ($A803,536) event last year.
New Zealand’s richest race for two-year-olds, the race is restricted to graduates of New Zealand’s Karaka sale.
The two-day auction begins in Auckland on Monday.