The Boy Who Lived.....
 

Who says there's no good news in racing?

From Fox Sports AU..... welcome back, Carte Diamond. :)

Carte working towards Cup
By Mark Ryan
July 27, 2006

CARTE Diamond, the British-trained stayer who missed the 2005 Melbourne Cup due to a freak trackwork accident, is progressing well as he prepares for another crack at Australia's most famous race.

Trainer Brian Ellison left the horse in Australia after one of his hind legs was impaled on a metal stake when he crashed riderless through an aluminium running rail in a workout at Flemington a week before the Cup.

Carte Diamond has been in work for some time at Denistoun Park at Tuerong on the Mornington Peninsula.

Trainer Alex Macpherson, who both prepares "six or eight" horses and pre-trains for Lee Freedman, said Carte Diamond had been on the property since the "two to three" months he spent in the Cranbourne veterinary clinic.

"He had a setback with a serious colic attack 24 hours after he arrived at my place, which was off-putting, but he recovered and has made good progress since and is going along nicely," Macpherson said.

"He's very good mentally.

"He's shown that he hasn't lost anything, which is pretty important because that could be another hurdle for him to overcome if mentally he was a little confused.

"Brian Ellison has had one of his lads, Andrew Robertson, out for the past six weeks to get the horse going at a bit more pace.


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"He's reportedly a very lazy track worker and it did look like that, but he's great in his action and he's pretty clean in his wind, too.

"Brian is sending another horse out, Bay Story, with another lad in the middle of August so they can work together.

"Brian will be coming out in late August and will be based here all through the spring.

"(Carte Diamond) is obviously a very good horse.

"He ran second in The Ebor (to Sergeant Cecil at York last year) in a race that probably didn't suit off a pretty limited preparation. He had some injury concerns over there."

Carte Diamond ran ninth to Railings in the 2005 Caulfield Cup last october, beaten 4½lengths, after being checked early in his only Australian outing to date.

"He looks to me he's definitely the right horse for the Melbourne Cup so no doubt he'll be competitive," Macpherson said.

"Is he going well enough?

"It's probably a bit early to say. We'll know more by the end of August. He's on track but the next four to six weeks will be pretty significant."

Nominations for the $5 million Melbourne Cup (3200m) on November 7, costing $550, close at noon on Tuesday.

Update from Racing Post.....

Ellison bullish about Carte's Melbourne Cup prospects
by Lee Mottershead

BRIAN ELLISON on Tuesday declared that Carte Diamond, the British stayer who survived near-death experiences both before and after his aborted 2005 Melbourne Cup bid, will erase the memory of those troubled times by winning this year’s renewal of Australia’s greatest race.

Carte Diamond on Tuesday featured among a host of international entries for the feature races of the Spring Carnival, for which British trainers are represented to a greater degree than those of any other overseas country.

Carte Diamond, the 2005 Totesport Ebor runner-up, had been due to contest the Melbourne Cup last year, only to be ruled out days before the race after galloping through a running rail in a morning workout, in the process lacerating his hindquarters on a metal stake.

Kept in Australia to recover, the five-year-old suffered another major setback in February when a suspected heat-related problem caused him to experience severe breathlessness and to be put on a drip.

Carte Diamond, who is still at Melbourne’s Denistoun Park complex, was on Tuesday reported to be in excellent shape by a bullish Ellison.

“He’ll run in the Caulfield Cup, then he’ll run in the Melbourne Cup, and he’ll win the Melbourne Cup,” he said. “I think he’s a hell of a horse, and there’s no way he would have been out of the first three last year if he had been able to run. This year he’s bigger and stronger, although he did nearly die last year, so he’s still got to do it mentally.

“He’s had three or four gallops now and they’re very pleased with him over there. We’re going to run him in a mile-and-a- quarter race in September, and then we’ll decide if he needs another run before the Caulfield Cup. I’m going out there with my wife from September, and we won’t be back until after the Melbourne Cup, as there’s too much money at stake.”

Britain is responsible for 16 entries in the Emirates-sponsored Melbourne Cup, for which Aidan O’Brien has nominated Gold Cup winner Yeats, who has been declared for Wednesday’s Goodwood Cup.

Godolphin haveseven candidates, while 2004 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Better Talk Now could become America’s first runner in the Flemington spectacular.

The Sir Michael Stoute-trained Maraahel :) is among the European-trained entries for the Cox Plate.

Update from Sporting Life.....

A shame.

CARTE CUP BID IN DOUBT
By PA Sport Staff

Carte Diamond's bid for the Melbourne Cup is once again in doubt after Brian Ellison's five-year-old suffered another injury.

Racing Victoria Ltd in Australia are reporting that the son of Theatrical has a 'serious injury' and he will be denied a run in the 'race that stops a nation' for the second consecutive year.

Ellison flies to Melbourne on Monday to assess the situation but said: "It's a big blow, but we'll just have to wait to see the extent of the damage to the leg.

"His preparation was going brilliantly and his times were good so it's doubly frustrating," he told the Racing Post.

"I'm in touch with the vet and we're keeping our fingers crossed that the horse will be alright."

Carte Diamond was denied a run last year when a stirrup leather came away from the saddle and jockey Weichong Marwing was unseated during his final preparations.

The horse ran loose and suffered two severe lacerations to his off-hind leg when galloping through a running rail.

Decision expected tomorrow.....

If anyone (Moodwalker) hears news, will you please post it?

Thank you.

Racing Post update..... he's 50 / 50 to run.

http://www.racingpost.co.uk/news/mas...tory_id=851137

Honestly,

I don't think it matters if he does run.

You mean from a handicapping point of view? I agree.....

I only want him to run because it would mean everything to his connections.....

He deserves to run. He earned his way in. He almost died trying. My reasons for hoping he does go are purely sentimental..... :)

Dum spiro, spero.

(While I breathe, I hope).

- Cicero

Update..... :)

http://www.thoroughbrednews.co.nz/sp...cing/?id=25731

Update.....

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-32343,00.html

I'm currently living with the lad that cares for Carte Diamond day in and day out and he came down from England back in June. The horse looks good, and they are hoping that things go well for it in the Cup. He worked this Tuesday at Cranbourne and went pretty well.

I'll update more later, but I don't have internet where I am staying.

Good luck to him, deserves it after all he's been through.

I'm hoping he'll have to settle for second behind Pentane though. :)

I make no apologies for my extreme NZ bias. :D But I genuinely believe that Pentane is our best chance of winning the cup since Ethereal.

Oh lucky!

Please, if you ever see him, give him a big hug and kiss and tell him he's loved!:)

(We miss you, Moodwalker). :cool:

Tell me about him..... I don't know much and any insight is appreciated.

Thanks!

Pentane is trained by former jockey Lance O'Sullivan, who came second in a Melbourne Cup but never won it. A son of Pentire, he has won seven of his 14 starts and is the only horse to have beaten Xcellent on NZ soil (admittedly in a trial, but did it easily).

Pentane won the Auckland Cup this year, and started his Melbourne Cup campaign by beating a pretty strong field in a listed race over what was thought to be the too short distance of a mile.

Went a shocker last start but apparently had a skin rash, as long as he gets back to his old self I really believe he's as good as any stayers in Australia at the moment and will have a fairly light weight. Worth a look when you're making your selections. :)

Thanks for the info! Best of luck..... will keep an eye on him. :)

He's been ruled out.

Give him a kiss for me, Moodwalker.

He's an amazing horse..... a shame he didn't pass the vet exam but at least this way we know he's safe.

Still though..... it's a sad day.

Watch for some more news on it this week. He might run after all

Thanks for the news! Please keep me up to date.

Miss you, by the way.....

All the Hong Kong horses have been asking about you. :p

Oh well..... it was not to be.

Tell him he's loved.

Yep, he is out. Went for stem cell surgery today and is being gelded later this month. The other horse they brought named Bay Story is going to run on Melbourne Cup day and Kieren Fallon galloped him this morning.

He is doing pretty well from what the English lads say.