Hong Kong star Dan Excel’s Cox Plate campaign is over with trainer John Moore scratching him from his planned lead-up race at Caulfield on Saturday.
A Group One winner in Hong Kong and Singapore, Dan Excel was taken out of Saturday’s Listed Weekend Hussler Stakes on Friday because of a throat infection.
The horse missed his planned first-up run in the Rupert Clarke Stakes.
Racing Victoria confirmed trainer Moore had also officially withdrawn the gelding from this month’s $3 million Cox Plate (2040m).
Dan Excel has been in Australia since the end of June to prepare for the spring carnival.
New Zealand Group One winner Our Vespa has been scratched from Saturday’s $1 million Caulfield Guineas because of an issue with a tooth.
The colt was a luckless sixth in the Guineas Prelude won by Rich Enuff.