Brett Prebble will gallop Caulfield Guineas-bound Marwood at Flemington on Tuesday morning with a view to riding him on Saturday should Aussies Love Sport be withdrawn.
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Connections of the Mike Moroney-trained Marwood have been forced to find a new rider for Marwood for the Group One Guineas (1600m) after Nick Hall was suspended for careless riding on Saturday.
Prebble is booked for the Gai Waterhouse-trained Aussies Love Sport but the three-year-old is in doubt for the race after stewards confirmed he was lame in the near hind leg after trackwork on Monday.
Aussies Love Sport sustained a laceration to his near hind leg while being transported to Melbourne from Sydney.
Marwood won his first two starts in impressive fashion at the provincials before failing to fire when sixth in the Caulfield Guineas Prelude but he pulled up with an excuse.
Moroney said the gelding was scoped after the Guineas Prelude and found to be suffering from pharyngitis.
“It meant he had a lot of mucus down his trachea which made it hard for him to breathe,” Moroney said.
“It put his lungs under pressure.”
The three-year-old was scoped last Friday and was “100 per cent clear”, paving the way for the son of O’Reilly to press on towards Saturday’s Guineas (1600) which has been his main spring mission.
“We know it affected him, there was something wrong with him,” the trainer said.
“He’s a long way better than that.
“You just hope that was his only reason and if that’s the case you’ll probably see a different horse on Saturday hopefully.”
While the Caulfield Guineas is the aim for Marwood, Moroney hasn’t given up on import Araldo gaining a Caulfield Cup start after he was given a 1kg penalty on Monday for his win in Saturday’s Listed Bart Cummings at Flemington.
Araldo’s Caulfield Cup weight has risen to 51kg and he is equal 40th in the ballot but with attrition, Moroney is hoping he might sneak into the field.
“We’ll give consideration to the Caulfield Cup being his next run. We’ll probably make the next payment and just see where we’re sitting,” Moroney said.
“We’ve got us sitting about number 25 or 24.”
Araldo was given a half kilogram penalty for the Melbourne Cup, taking his weight to 50.5kg and he is 66th in the ballot order.
