Controversial English horse Yellowstone has been scratched from the Melbourne Cup after a week-long battle to get over a hip injury.
Trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam and Australian vets had been at odds over his fitness and he was due to undergo a further inspection on Tuesday morning but late on Monday he was officially withdrawn.
The Cup field has been reduced to 22 with the scratching this morning of Zarita because of a virus.
Yellowstone's Irish jockey John Egan was fined $8,000 by stewards on Monday for comments he made in a television interview in which he called Australia's racing industry vets a "couple of tinpot Hitlers".
Egan made the remark after vets ordered Yellowstone to undergo an additional fitness test before being allowed to run in the Melbourne Cup.
Australian racing stewards, who have the power to stop a horse running in a race if vets deem it to be unfit, took a dim view of Egan's remarks, charging him with bringing the sport into disrepute.
Egan pleaded guilty to the offence but said his remarks were not aimed at the vets.
The Racing Appeals Disciplinary Board chairman Russell Lewis described Egan as an unreliable witness whose comments were reprehensible.
