The Boy Who Lived.....

[my miss storm cat]

Who says there's no good news in racing?

From Fox Sports AU..... welcome back, Carte Diamond.

Carte working towards Cup
By Mark Ryan
July 27, 2006

CARTE Diamond, the British-trained stayer who missed the 2005 Melbourne Cup due to a freak trackwork accident, is progressing well as he prepares for another crack at Australia's most famous race.

Trainer Brian Ellison left the horse in Australia after one of his hind legs was impaled on a metal stake when he crashed riderless through an aluminium running rail in a workout at Flemington a week before the Cup.

Carte Diamond has been in work for some time at Denistoun Park at Tuerong on the Mornington Peninsula.

Trainer Alex Macpherson, who both prepares "six or eight" horses and pre-trains for Lee Freedman, said Carte Diamond had been on the property since the "two to three" months he spent in the Cranbourne veterinary clinic.

"He had a setback with a serious colic attack 24 hours after he arrived at my place, which was off-putting, but he recovered and has made good progress since and is going along nicely," Macpherson said.

"He's very good mentally.

"He's shown that he hasn't lost anything, which is pretty important because that could be another hurdle for him to overcome if mentally he was a little confused.

"Brian Ellison has had one of his lads, Andrew Robertson, out for the past six weeks to get the horse going at a bit more pace.


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"He's reportedly a very lazy track worker and it did look like that, but he's great in his action and he's pretty clean in his wind, too.

"Brian is sending another horse out, Bay Story, with another lad in the middle of August so they can work together.

"Brian will be coming out in late August and will be based here all through the spring.

"(Carte Diamond) is obviously a very good horse.

"He ran second in The Ebor (to Sergeant Cecil at York last year) in a race that probably didn't suit off a pretty limited preparation. He had some injury concerns over there."

Carte Diamond ran ninth to Railings in the 2005 Caulfield Cup last october, beaten 4½lengths, after being checked early in his only Australian outing to date.

"He looks to me he's definitely the right horse for the Melbourne Cup so no doubt he'll be competitive," Macpherson said.

"Is he going well enough?

"It's probably a bit early to say. We'll know more by the end of August. He's on track but the next four to six weeks will be pretty significant."

Nominations for the $5 million Melbourne Cup (3200m) on November 7, costing $550, close at noon on Tuesday.