Silent Achiever out of cup

RACING

NEW ZEALAND’S hopes of a Melbourne Cup win fell silent last night.

Cambridge mare Silent Achiever was a shock withdrawal from Tuesday’s Flemington showpiece after complications to an injury suffered in the Caulfield Cup.

She had been the only New Zealand-trained horse still in contention for the race.

Silent Achiever was galloped on in the Caulfield Cup and needed 11 stitches to her hind legs to help mend her war wounds. Despite all indications that she had overcome that hurdle, the news was disastrous for trainer Roger James yesterday.

James said he noticed filling in the mare’s hind legs when he arrived at her box at Flemington yesterday morning.

He said the most likely scenario was that she’d had an adverse reaction to the stitches being removed but there was a small chance she could have become cast in her box.

She had since developed ‘‘a form of cellulitis’’, an ailment that can occur after skin is broken and explained Silent Achiever’s swollen legs, James said.

Racing Victoria vets granted James 24 hours grace to prove Silent Achiever’s fitness but the trainer said last night that he had run out of time.

‘‘I’ve waited 35 years to have a runner in a cup with a chance like she had, only to get something out of left field like this. It’s devastating.’’

James also had to break the news to Silent Achiever’s owner-breeder Kevin Hickman, who had family and friends flying in from England to watch the mare.