After failing as a short-priced favourite in Saturday’s Toorak Handicap, Perth star Amelia’s Jewel will not press onto next weekend’s Cox Plate.
One of the main fancies for the $5 million weight-for-age championship after her track-record win in the Stock Stakes at Moonee Valley a fortnight ago, she flopped at Caulfield on Saturday, putting in the worst performance of her career to finish ninth behind winner Attrition.Her trainer, Simon Miller, has now decided she won’t press onto the Cox Plate, and whether she races in the rich Golden Eagle in Sydney seven days later also remains to be seen.
“I thought it was the chopper and the music, but she’s dealt with that before. She just had a bee in her bonnet. It wasn’t until ‘Frosty’ jumped on that she started to relax a bit, and I thought, ‘That’s all right, I’ll put it down to that.’ “When she broke the track record at the Valley, she got home 10.30pm at night and by 4am she was looking for her brekky. There’s something a little bit out of whack at the moment. We’ll do some blood tests today and find out what’s going on.”Asked whether she would run again this spring, Miller said: “Balls are in the air at the moment.”