‘His action is not what it should be’: Blue Diamond favourite Big Sky scratched after knee scare

Blue Diamond favourite Big Sky has been sensationally scractched.

Trainer Mick Price said on Friday he wasn’t happy with the colt’s action despite the 2 year-old passing a Racing Victoria vet check on Thursday.

‘’I am going to scratch our horse Big Sky, I am not happy with him this morning. I know he passed the RV trot up yesterday with all due respect, that’s fine, he trotted out nice and clean I was there obviously,’’ he told SEN.

‘’But look, we had a little canter this morning with him, and his action is not what it should be.”

‘’We just, we know by having a look at the stride data that on Tuesday morning, his stride was just a little bit shorter than what it should be, like ten centimetres shorter than what it should be per stride.’’

Price said they also got their colt x-rayed.

‘’I am not a data ferret, I was just more looking at knees this morning. So we had them X-rayed and there is a little bit of immaturity near front,’’ Price said.

‘’There is enough to suggest I need a second opinion on what’s going on in that knee.”

‘’We think we can see a small little flake of bone in there, but I am not sure yet what we need to do. But, what I do know is that horse will not be running on Saturday and he’ll be going the paddock.’’

Price said the stable had high hopes for Big Sky’s 3 year-old campaign and the lure of the Diamond was no extra incentive to run.

‘’It wouldn’t matter whether it’s a Blue Diamond or mile Maiden, I wouldn’t ask any horse to do anything that I wasn’t one hundred percent happy with,’’ he said.

‘’Especially with a 2 year-old baby and look he’s very talented. He might be a Group 1 3 year old. But what we do know, regardless of anything in the future is that he should not run tomorrow, and the information is very black and white.’’

Racing Victoria confirmed on Friday that the last of the vet inspections had taken place, with Lindsay Park-trained Torture also out of the race.

According to Stewards, ‘’the filly was reinspected and not passed suitable to race in Saturday’s Group 1 $2 million Sportsbet Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield.

The McEvoy-trained Tough Romance was passed suitable to race, as were the remaining 16 acceptors.