A Melbourne Cup contender had a worrying moment on the eve of Tuesday’s big race after the horse appeared to stumble during a training session.
The worrying moment came after Onesmoothoperator failed a veterinary test on Friday, but subsequent tests over the weekend clarified that the seven-year-old had been re-shod.
The Geelong Cup winner was one of the favorites to win the race, but dropped prices on Buckaroo and the Willie Mullins-trained Vauban to around $9 due to a heel injury.
The horse had suffered a cut to the bulb of his right hind heel and Racing Victoria Stewards noted there had been a “change in the horse’s gait”.
But on Monday things almost got worse after the horse completed a training session on the beach.
In images captured by nine newsthe horse, which will be ridden by 2019 Melbourne Cup winner Craig Williams, appears to lose its balance as it makes its way through the sea.
Onesmoothoperator appeared to fall forward on his left front leg, but quickly regained his composure by walking in the water before returning to his trainers, who were watching him from the edge of the waves.
“I thought he was leaving then,” his horse said, according to Channel Nine.
A Melbourne Cup contender had a worrying moment on the eve of Tuesday’s big race
Onesmoothoperator appeared to slip while completing a training session at sea
But the horse appeared to quickly regain its composure and was seen walking back to its trainers on the beach unharmed.
‘Did you see it? ‘He tripped!’
Some within the racing industry say that riding a horse in the sea helps the animal relax.
said racehorse trainer Gai Waterhouse. cnn: ‘Playing in the sea and sand allows horses to relax. It gives them something else to do besides run in circles.
He adds: “It’s also especially good for horses that may have been injured.”
Onesmoothoperator, trained by Brian Ellison and owned by Patrick Boyle, recently arrived in Australia ahead of this week’s festival at Flemington.
Following victory at Geelong in October, Onesmoothoperator can join an exclusive club of horses, including Media Puzzle, Americain and Dunaden as the only runners to complete the Geelong-Melbourne Cup double.
Twenty-three horses will run in Tuesday’s race after Athabascan was excluded from the Flemington festival due to a heart problem.