The dream of securing a start in The Everest is over for connections of gun sprinting mare Rubisaki.
Trainer Patrick Payne said Rubisaki had suffered a mild virus recently and that had almost certainly ended any chance she had of gaining a slot in The Everest.
Rubisaki had won eight races from 10 starts, including six in a row, but her winning run came to an end with a rare poor performance when she finished tenth first up in the Cockram Stakes at Caulfield on August 29.
“She pulled up fine from that race but eight days later she had a snotty nose and we had to treat her to get her well again,” Payne said.
“I’m in no hurry to get her back to the races so you’d have to say The Everest was off the table.”
Payne said he would look at running Rubisaki in the Group Two Rose Of Kingston Stakes (1400m) at Flemington on October 3.
“If she ran well in that we’d still be looking at getting her to Sydney for The Golden Eagle,” Payne said.
The Golden Eagle is for four-year-olds at Rosehill on October 31 over 1500 metres and carries $7.5 million in prize money .
