Cup blow for Godolphin

Godolphin's Melbourne Cup hopes have been dealt a blow after it was revealed that All The Good will miss the race.

The Caulfield Cup winner suffered a setback earlier in the week but it had been hoped that intensive treatment would enable him to take his place in the line-up at Flemington.

However, x-rays have revealed that the five-year-old entire has a hairline fracture of the cannon bone.

Trainer Saeed bin Suroor said: "The latest news on All The Good is not great. He will miss the race."

Sheikh Mohammed's operation put plans in place to prepare All The Good for Australia after he won the rearranged Ebor, the Newburgh Handicap, at Newbury.

Then, with Kerrin McEvoy in the saddle, All The Good won the Caulfield Cup, considered to be the best trial for the big race.

However, bin Suroor found the horse to be slightly lame when he checked him out on Wednesday night.

"He was unsound three days ago, missed his work on Thursday and today he has done nothing," Bin Suroor continued.

"The last round of x-rays have shown up a tiny hairline fracture of the cannon bone though.

"He was the perfect horse. I believed in my heart that this was the horse that would run very well in the Melbourne Cup.

"He won the Caulfield Cup and he was improving all the time. When he won at Newbury he won easy and then he won the Group One in Australia - we just have no luck in this race.

"We will try and again and again and again."