Calling off the trip is common sense, says Moore
The W.S. Cox Plate dream of John Moore ended before it had begun after the trainer abandoned Melbourne campaigns for Viva Pataca and Viva Macau as the equine influenza outbreak in Australia escalated.
After last weekend's initial equine influenza (EI) outbreak, Moore spoke to Racing Victoria official Leigh Jordan and delayed the trip to see what direction the disease would take. But with the situation getting worse by the day in the state of New South Wales, the trainer decided to end the uncertainty and abandon the trip.
'The delay while we wait and see what happens has begun to throw the horses' preparations out, particularly Viva Pataca, who I had planned to run first-up over 1,800m in the Underwood Stakes,' Moore (pictured) said yesterday.
'That race is now going to come up too quickly if we were to go. So, taking into consideration the interruption to the horses' programmes, the worsening situation in New South Wales and the continuing uncertainty hanging over the situation in Victoria, I think the common sense thing is to abandon the trip.'
Moore will instead devise a domestic programme for the horses aimed towards the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Internationals in December.
The situation, which had already been grim, became catastrophic in New South Wales yesterday with the finding of positive EI cases in eight horses from 10 tested in one stable at Royal Randwick as the total number of positives in the state exploded to 488 with another 1,600 suspected cases.
