A bombshell report into deaths of international horses in the Melbourne Cup will confirm that ill-fated raider Anthony Van Dyck showed signs of lameness only days before last year’s Caulfield Cup.
The Aidan O’Brien-trained Epsom Derby winner, arguably the best credentialed raider ever sent to Australia, was euthanised at Flemington after the Melbourne Cup because of a catastrophic fractured fetlock.
According to an impeccable source close to Racing Victoria’s review to be handed down on Wednesday, Anthony Van Dyck was administered a nerve block on October 9.
Nerve block — a short-term local anaesthetic — is used to identify sore spots in a horse’s lower leg.
Anthony Van Dyck was specifically cleared of a fetlock injury but the fact that nerve block was used at all proves he was suffering a mystery ailment that caused RV vets to be alerted.
The Herald Sun has established that senior RV officials, head vet Grace Forbes and international and racing operations boss Paul Bloodworth, supervised the critical procedure on October 9, not long after the horse arrived in Australia.
Regular track watchers were concerned at the horse’s action.
Despite being the subject of multiple vet checks before and after his taxing Caulfield Cup, Anthony Van Dyck was not one of the horses sent for a precautionary pre-race CT scan.
This was despite the fact the RV-funded $1.3m diagnostics tool is at the U-Vet Werribee Animal Hospital, less than a kilometre from the international horse centre.
Anthony Van Dyck carried topweight and started from barrier 17 in the Caulfield Cup and endured a wide, looping gallop to threaten eventual champion Verry Elleegant in a driving finish.
After this brave performance on a rain-affected track, connections decided the horse would tackle the Melbourne Cup next.
Sadly Anthony Van Dyck went amiss on the firm ground at Flemington, breaking down and becoming the seventh Cup death since 2013 in front of a global audience.
The mishap underlined the well-documented mortality rate of O’Brien horses in Australia.
Apart from Anthony Van Dyck, in just three years the Irish trainer has lost Cup runner The Cliffsofmoher (2018) along with Wichita (2020) and The Pentagon (2018) in trackwork mishaps.
RV chief Giles Thompson last week confirmed that a large part of the report, and subsequent recommendations, was on the screening of overseas horses pre-departure and upon arrival.
The tougher measures will cut the number of internationals attempting hit-and-run Cup campaigns.
Since 2010, eight of the past 10 Cup winners have been fly-in, fly-out horses.
Cup record-holder Lloyd Williams earlier this month endorsed RV’s “outstanding” veterinary safeguards and the work Grace Forbes does.
“It is an extremely difficult position she (Forbes) is placed in (as) ‘The Final Decision-maker’,” said Williams this month — a winner of seven Cups, including three of the past five.
“I have a tremendous amount of sympathy for her and I am (the) No. 1 supporter of her position.”
RV potentially avoided a second Cup catastrophe last year with the race-morning scratching of Williams-owned King Of Leogrance.
The Adelaide Cup winner was found lame in the off foreleg following a veterinary inspection.