Expensive English import Sea Moon has hit an early Spring Carnival hurdle after pulling up sore following his unplaced Australian debut in the Group 1 $350,000 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on Saturday.
Sea Moon, above, pulled up sore after the Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington. Photo by Race Horse Photos Australia.
Sea Moon stumbled out of the barriers at the start and jockey Craig Williams was lucky to stay in the saddle when the six year old went right down on his front knees with his nose touching the ground.
Williams was able to regain his balance and tag onto the rest for the field and was able to beat two runners home to wind up in twelfth spot behind Foreteller and Puissance De Lune.
“You just have to hope all is well,” part owner Nick Williams told the Herald Sun.
“He is sore behind, which is understandable when you look at what happened at the start.
“We will monitor him for the next three or four days to make sure all is well, and go from there one way or the other. It seems restricted to his muscles, not any breaks.”
In the end Nick Williams was happy with the run and is hopeful that the injuries are only minor and the high profile import can get back on track for the rest of the carnival.
“I’ve watched the replay plenty of times and he missed the start by almost five lengths, had to gather himself and was still beaten only five lengths,” Nick Williams said.
Nick Williams will know in a few a days what the extent of his injuries are and is looking for his second start of the Carnival to be the Group 1 $500,000 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on October 5.
Sea Moon is nominated for the big three Group 1s over the Melbourne Spring Carnival, the $2.65m BMW Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield, the $3m Sportingbet Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley and the $6.2m Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington which Team Williams won last year with Green Moon.
The English stayer is prominent in the betting for all three races and is a $17 chance for the Caulfield Cup, a $16 chance for the Cox Plate and is the second favourite at $11 for the Melbourne Cup behind Puissance De Lune at $7.
The bad luck didn’t stop with Sea Moon with Nick Williams reporting that two of the stables other imports pulled up sore after Saturday – Ranked, who finished fourteenth in the Listed $120,000 The Sofitel (1400m) and Thought Worthy who finished ninth in $100,000 Sofitel Girl’s Day Out (2000m).
“I’ve got three quite sore horses,” Williams said.
“It was very disappointing, very disappointing.”
“It’s hard to believe it could happen.”
