Busuttin Stables have issued a strongly worded statement after being told by Racing Victoria that Brayden Star cannot race in Tuesday’s 3200m Melbourne Cup.

In a double blow, Busuttin’s other Cup horse Muramasa was also ruled out by RV vets on Thursday, but the decision on Brayden Star incensed the stable and the horse’s ownership group (managed by Seymour Bloodstock).

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Brayden Star was an unlucky fourth at the recent Moonee Valley Gold Cup, and following the race Busuttin decided to push ahead with the six-year-old gelding’s Cup preparations.

Sitting just outside the field of 24, there was a strong chance the horse would have found his way into the $8 million race (as others pulled out) … that was, of course, before Racing Victoria informed the stable that Brayden Star had “failed his mandatory CT scan”.

While acknowledging the horse’s welfare was paramount, the stable was compelled to write a statement and express their frustration.

“(We) welcome the processes put in place by Racing Victoria … however, there is no sugar-coating it, our team is very disappointed as our horse has never been so outwardly happy, healthy and in great form,” the statement said.

“Having been advised we’re out of the running for the Cup because ‘there may be a shadow that could possibly develop into a stress fracture in the future’ is perplexing.”

The statement follows trainer Aidan O’Brien’s outburst, who was seething after his Melbourne Cup contender Jan Brueghel was also withdrawn from the Cup.

O’Brien said his vets looked at the scans and “they said they were fine”, but Australian vets had a different view.

“Most scans are a view or an opinion. He did the most rigorous scans he could go through and he went through them. He had another scan the last few days, never trotted better, moved better,” O’Brien raged.

Racing Victoria said Brayden Star and Muramasa were presented at the University of Melbourne Equine Centre in Werribee on Monday for compulsory CT scans of their distal limbs.

“Reports received from an expert panel of internationally renowned equine surgeons and diagnostic imaging specialists, who reviewed Brayden Star and Muramasa’s CT scan results, indicate that both horses are currently at heightened risk of injury,” the RV statement said.

“Following advice from RV Veterinary Services in relation to the specialist opinions from the independent imaging panel, RV Stewards ordered the withdrawal of Brayden Star and Muramasa from the Melbourne Cup on the basis that they were unsuitable to compete.”

Busuttin said they would now work with Dr Grace Forbes (RV’s vet service manager) and her panel of experts in the coming weeks to “ensure industry participants are better informed of details surrounding the process”.

The stable said they wanted to make cure CT scans were “not just for picking up incidental findings” but were actually used in a “predictive manner”.

“The vets and their panels are only enforcing the rules. If continued robust investigation of the outcomes lends itself to a change of rules to ta speculation out of decisions it could only be a good thing for the benefit of the industry,” Busuttin Stables said.

Meanwhile, UK-trained Sea King has emerged as a Melbourne Cup contender after an impressive Australian debut victory at Bendigo.

Success in the Group 3 Bendigo Cup (2400m) on Wednesday qualifies the Harry Eustace-trained stayer for Tuesday’s Cup.

Ridden by Declan Bates, Sea King ($5.50) scored by 3-¾ lengths from Berkeley Square ($6) with Star Vega ($11) a head away in third place.

The past two winners of the Bendigo Cup – High Emocean and Interpretation– went on to compete in the Melbourne Cup six days later – finishing third and sixth respectively.

Winning trainer Harry Eustace and managing part-owner Terry Henderson said the Melbourne Cup had not been on their agenda when Sea King was purchased after running sixth in the UK’s biggest handicap, the Ebor at York in August.

But now the English stayer has had his weight lifted from 50kg to 50.5kg, and he has been elevated to 17th in the order of entry for the iconic race.

Eustace said the Melbourne Cup started to come on the radar as horses in the Flemington feature began falling by the wayside.

“Curiously, coming down, we never even thought we’d get close and, of course, since we’ve been here, the Cup, as everyone is well aware, has really started cutting up,” Eustace said.

“So, the closer we got to getting in the more pressure there was I suppose.

“It’s incredibly exciting. A lot was riding on it, it’s the last win-and-you’re-in for the Cup, so it’s an absolute dream result today.”

Henderson said Sea King had travelled out to Melbourne primarily as a travelling companion for Docklands, but the gelding had thrived during his time in quarantine at Werribee.

Docklands ran fifth to Via Sistina in the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley last Saturday at his Australian debut.

– With RASNewsWire