Melbourne Cup rocked as favourite Sir Delius ruled out by Racing Victoria vets

Melbourne Cup favourite Sir Delius has been ruled out of the famous race, and next week’s Cox Plate, by Racing Victoria (RV) stewards.

The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained five-year-old won the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes earlier two weeks ago and was primed for a run at the Cox Plate-Melbourne Cup double.

But Sir Delius has now become the first major contender to fall foul of RV’s strict vet protocols, with a panel determining scans showed a “heightened risk of injury”.

“Given the imaging panel’s advice, in accordance with RV’s enhanced 2025 veterinary protocols, 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,” the governing body added.

“Sir Delius presented yesterday (Thursday, 16 October) 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.”

RV introduced scans for all Melbourne Cup horses in 2021 following the death of top contender Anthony Van Dyck in the race a year earlier.

His death was the seventh recorded in the Melbourne Cup in as many years — but there have been no deaths since RV introduced mandatory pre-race scans.

Waterhouse last month said “it would be a dream come true” to win her first Cox Plate with Sir Delius.

Sir Delius was purchased for $2.7 million by clients of the Waterhouse-Bott stable to do his future racing in Australia.

The Turnbull Stakes was his third win from four starts in the country, and Waterhouse said there was more improvement to come.

“He’s put on condition. He’s relaxed more and whatever he runs in, they’re going to have to beat him,” Waterhouse said.

“He’s a most exciting horse.”

Jockey Craig Williams described Sir Delius as a “great horse” and said it was exciting people were getting behind him.

He said Waterhouse and Bott had given him the confidence that Sir Delius could overcome the wide draw to win the Turnbull Stakes.

“In Group 1 races, you don’t think you can win like that, but we were very confident he could do it,” Williams said.

“We had the outside barrier draw. Gai and Adrian were very good about having an open book without too much pressure about riding him.

“I had to use a few carrots to find a spot, but when the chips are down, this horse is a winner.”

Williams said he was unsure what distance range Sir Delius can extend to, but feels the Melbourne Cup, with 55.5kg, is worth taking a punt on.

“I just said you will never have 55.5 kilos in the Melbourne Cup again,” Williams said.

“I worked him during the week at Flemington, and he walked out and he owned the track.

“He owns everything he does and today you saw that attitude. He puts the writing on the wall when under pressure against these top horses, and he’s delivering.”