International raider Dandino, runner-up in last year’s Caulfield Cup, will not run in Saturday’s race. Managing part-owner, Darren Dance, today (Thursday) told Racing Network the horse was lame and would be scratched.
“He’s lame in the near front leg and can’t possibly run on Saturday,” a devastated Dance explained.
“We don’t know if he has knocked himself or what he has done, but he certainly won’t be able to run on Saturday,” he said.
This paves the way for the second emergency, Araldo, to make his way into the field and trainer Mike Moroney has engaged Joao ‘The Magic Man’ Moreira to ride the horse.
Dance said the vet would scan the area where Dandino was lame to ascertain the extent of the injury, but he expects the horse is likely to miss the Melbourne Cup now as well.
“I don’t know, but experience tells me once you have an issue like this you can’t fix it quickly,” he said.