Godolphin have confirmed that Caulfield Cup winner, All The Good, will not participate in the 2008 Melbourne Cup.

All The Good suffered a setback earlier this week. However, trainer Saeed bin Suroor had hoped that veterinary tests would clear his entry for the Melbourne Cup.

On Friday Suroor revealed that x-rays of All The Good‘s injuries had detected a hairline fracture of the cannon bone, and that the horse will not be participating in the 2008 Melbourne Cup.

 ”The latest news on All The Good is not great. He will miss the race,” Saeed bin Suroor told Sky News on Friday. “He was unsound three days ago, missed his work on Thursday and today he has done nothing. The last round of x-rays have shown up a tiny hairline fracture of the cannon bone though.”

All The Good had looked a promising contender for the Melbourne Cup after winning both the Newburgh Handicap and the Caulfield Cup, and had been due to partner jockey Kerrin McEvoy for the race.

“He was the perfect horse. I believed in my heart that this was the horse that would run very well in the Melbourne Cup,” Suroor continued. “He won the Caulfield Cup and he was improving all the time. When he won at Newbury he won easy and then he won the Group One in Australia – we just have no luck in this race.”

Aidan O’Brien’s Septimus has picked up a massive bet as activity in the Melbourne Cup picks up ahead of Australia’s biggest race day.

An intrepid punter has bet AS$65,000 on Septimus to win the 2008 Melbourne Cup, a bet that stands to earn more than a million dollars if Septimus comes good at Flemington Park.

“It’s a long way to come for a race and Vintage Crop and Media Puzzle have certainly shown us that the Irish mean business,” a bookmaker’s representative told reporters. “Aidan O’Brien is a master trainer and the punters know he’s one to watch.”

Septimus is the short odds favourite to secure Aidan O’Brien a clean sweep of the Irish Classics this weekend when he competes in the 2008 Irish St Leger, priced 1/2.

O’Brien’s runner is not, however, best priced for the 2008 Melbourne Cup. Septimus is presently priced 9/1 to win the Melbourne Cup handicap in November, behind William Hill’s short odds favourite, 7/1 Efficient.

Septimus’ odds can be expected to shorten significantly if he lands the Irish St Leger this weekend, however AS$65,000 remains a very bold bet given the fact that Septimus will be running under top weight at the 2008 Melbourne Cup.

Aidan O’Brien’s Septimus has found an enthusiastic backer in Melbourne Cup winning owner Lloyd Williams. Williams, who won the 2007 Melbourne Cup with Efficient, has rated Septimus ahead of his 25 entries in the 2008 renewal.

“He’s the best stayer in the world and I think you’ll find he makes the trip across,” Williams told the Herald Sun. “If you asked me one horse I would love to own, Septimus would be that horse. Septimus is a two-mile horse but has mile-and-a-half speed. He’s outstanding.”

By the time nominations closed, the Melbourne Cup had drawn 282 entries – 28 more than were nominated in 2007. The entries included Williams’ Melbourne Cup winner Efficient, as well as Aidan O’Brien’s Goodwood Cup and Ascot Gold Cup winner, Yeats.

While Williams has tipped Septimus to give Aidan O’Brien yet another group one win for the season, he is happy with Efficient’s preparations for the race, and defended his decision to race the Melbourne Cup champion in only two events before his November 4 titles defence.

“I’m not a believer in this business of having to give horses seven runs before the Cup. That’s an out-dated Australian-ism,” Williams saqid in defence of Efficient’s light racing schedule. “Aidan O’Brien is the best trainer in the world. He’s trained 17 Group 1 winners already this year, and he doesn’t give his horses seven runs.”
 

Aidan O’Brien is planning to export his dominance of flat racing to Australia in October, with multiple group one winners Henrythenavigator and Duke of Marmalade given entries for races at the Spring Racing Carnival.

A total of fifteen of O’Brien’s Ballydoyle horses are expected to travel to the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival, with his runners entered into three of the festival’s feature races.

While Henrythenavigator and Yeats are expected to run in the Tatts Cox Plate on the 25th of October, all eyes will be on Yeats and Septimus as they attempt to win O’Brien his first Melbourne Cup. Septimus is currently priced favourite for the race by Australian bookmakers, with Yeats not priced far off.

“For a trainer who is making headlines around the world, this is a glowing endorsement of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival as a truly international racing event,” Leigh Jordan, director of racing operations at Victoria Racing, told the Associated Press. “Aidan has nominated all his Group One headline performers.”

Other top British trainers fielding entries at the 2008 Spring Racing Racing Carnival include Dermott Weld, Sir Michael Stoute, Luca Cumani and Jeremy Noseda.

 ”These are without doubt, the best quality international entries we have received since the inception of international competition in the Spring Racing Carnival in the early 90′s,” Leigh concluded.

Dolphin Jo will begin his quest to make his third consecutive appearance in the Melbourne Cup when he runs in the Geoff Web Plate at Moonee Valley on Saturday.

After 5 months spent in the paddock, Dolphin Jo’s trainers Terry and Karina O’ Sullivan are looking to gradually ease their thoroughbred into top level racing before he takes a tilt at the Melbourne Cup in November.

“We are a fair way out but we always planned to do a slow, long campaign with him because he had a good five months in the paddock,” Terry said of his charge’s return to the turf. “He had a good rest, we think he is really well and he is in great order so he will race pretty sparingly from now until September.”

Following Saturday’s race Dolphin Joe is likely to enjoy four more weeks of rest before heading to Flemington Park in Melbourne to contest a race over 1700m. After that the stayer will be looking at some of the biggest Australian races as he prepares for the most important race of the year.

“There is quite a few races that will qualify him and he is got to be on the verge anyway. If we can win one of those we are going to be around the mark,” Terry O’Sullivan of his preparations for the 2008 Melbourne Cup.