Friday 8 August 2014 10:49, UK
Mount Athos is set to miss the rest of the year after suffering an injury setback.
Trainer Marco Botti and owner Dr Marwan Koukash had been eyeing another trip to Australia for the Melbourne Cup, a race in which he finished third last year and fifth in 2012 when trained by Luca Cumani.
After two fairs runs in Dubai, Mount Athos was last sighted when winning the Aston Park Stakes at Newbury in May.
Botti reported the seven-year-old to be sore after that victory and after a break failed to resolve his issue, further investigation has revealed a ligament problem.
The Newmarket handler said: "When he ran last time, he came back quite jarred up and sore after the race so we decided to give him a break to freshen him up and let things settle down.
"When he came back into full training, I wasn't 100 per cent happy with his action so we investigated a bit more and there is a problem with his suspensory ligament.
"He is an older horse so it can take some time to come right, so we will have to see how it goes and he will probably miss the rest of the year.
"He's a horse that always tries his best and we would hate for something drastic to happen to him on a racecourse, especially if he were to run on fast ground in the Melbourne Cup.
"We will give him time to get over this problem and then see where we are."
