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Racing Victoria (RV) stewards have sparked a furore ahead of the 2025 Melbourne Cup by ruling out the favourite for ‘the race that stops the nation’.
Sir Delius underwent mandatory scans on his distal limbs which were then studied by a panel of diagnostic imaging experts in Australia, the United Kingdom and United States.
They reported that the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained horse was at a heightened risk of injury, forcing the stewards to withdraw the horse from the race.
“The Waterhouse-Bott stable was afforded the opportunity for Sir Delius to undergo a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan which can help determine the status of an area of concern,” a statement from the RV stewards read.
“Sir Delius presented on Thursday for a PET scan at the University of Melbourne Equine Centre and the results were shared with the same three members of the imaging panel for review over the past 24 hours.
“Having reviewed the PET scan results alongside the CT scan results, the panel members have advised RV Veterinary Services that they remain of the view that Sir Delius is currently at heightened risk of injury.
“Following advice from RV Veterinary Services in relation to the specialist opinions from the imaging panel, RV Stewards have stood down Sir Delius from competing in the remainder of the 2025 Spring Racing Carnival.
“The stewards have appraised the connections of the key information that they relied upon in making their decision.”
Sir Delius was purchased for $2.7 million by clients of the Waterhouse-Bott stable, who had their sights set on winning Australia’s most iconic horse race.
He was rated as a 5.00 shot in the Melbourne Cup horse betting after recording an eye-catching victory in the Turnbull Stakes at Flemington Racecourse.
While the horse is currently barred from running in Victoria, connections have not ruled out the possibility of competing elsewhere in Australia.
"We're still in that stage of assessing that information and what it means to his campaign this preparation and future ones and what are the options surrounding that," Bott said.
"We will gather a bit more information as well and what we do with those decisions and options. We do have some great options.
“Outwardly he seems in great shape. We will process all of that as information comes to hand and we'll be able to make a decision then.
"No decisions have been made yet. That information came as a bit of a shock to us. The report has been presented and once we go through that, then we can make that call."
Bott suggested that the Five Diamonds Stakes at Rosehill Gardens on November 8 is a potential target if Sir Delius can continue racing.
However, the stable will be mindful of the scrutiny they would place themselves under if they decided to ignore the advice of Racing Victoria’s experts.
Waterhouse is reportedly unhappy with the decision and has told RV’s chief executive officer Aaron Morrison that she doesn’t agree with the framework.
Racing New South Wales chief steward Tom Moxon has already spoken with his counterparts in Victoria, and says they could follow suit by banning Sir Delius from running in Sydney.
“They haven’t been able to put full consideration into what embargoes are going to be placed on the horse,” Moxon said.
“We will obviously take those into consideration. I don’t know what the plans are with the stable and if they’re looking to run in Sydney.
“But we will have to consider any embargoes that are put on him by Racing Victoria in respect to veterinary examinations, gallops, trials and matters such as that.
“Until they consider the matter in full, we can’t really put too much thought into what we do.”
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