Kiwi stayer Sir Charles Road remains in contention for a Melbourne Cup start despite a setback costing him his chance to contest next week’s Caulfield Cup.
However the Auckland Cup winner Ladies First is out of the Melbourne Cup after her trainer Alan Sharrock missed Tuesday’s first acceptance payment.
"It was plain and simple an oversight and I have to own that," Sharrock said.
A payment of $3000 was due by midday on Tuesday.
Fellow New Zealand stayers Bonneval, Mongolianconqueror, Our Abbadean, Highlad and Surrey were also not paid up, leaving Jon Snow, Vin De Dance, Zacada, Sir Charles Road and Pentathlon as the remaining New Zealand-trained entries for the Flemington showpiece.
Ladies First is still in line to campaign in Melbourne provided she races well in Saturday's Egmont Cup (2100m) at Hawera.
Sharrock plans on starting her in the G2 Moonee Valley Cup (2500m) on October 27 before tackling the G3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) at Flemington on November 10.
Sir Charles Road spiked a temperature after finishing fourth in the G3 Foundation Cup (2000m) at Caulfield last month.
The hiccup in his Caulfield Cup preparation forced trainer Lance O’SUlivan to map out a new program and he will now start the tough stayer in the G3 Coongy Cup over 2000m on the Caulfield Cup program on Saturday week.
“His temperature has been fine for ten days,” O’Sullivan said. “We are looking to run him in the Coongy and will make a decision from there.”
Sir Charles Road is currently 35th on the order of entry for the $7 million Melbourne Cup on November 6.
Sir Charles Road topped the NZ stayer rankings last season after his autumn campaign in Sydney when he won the G2 Chairman’s Handicap (2400m) and finished third in the G1 Sydney Cup (3200m).
At home he won the G3 City of Auckland Cup (2400m) and was placed in the G1 Rich Hill Mile (1600m) and Karaka Cup (2000m) and was fifth in the Auckland Cup (3200m).
He prepped for his Melbourne spring campaign with a second-up win in the Reliable Man Trophy (1600m) at Hastings on September 1.
O’Sullivan, who trains in partnership with Andrew Scott, was delighted with the gelding’s performance in the Foundation Cup on September 22.
“It was his first run for three weeks so we knew there was a lot of natural improvement in the horse.
“That is what we were excited about. We couldn’t have been happier.”
