Champion New Zealand filly Lauraella is set to be a shock scratching from the Australian Oaks and her entire Australian campaign is in jeopardy.
The multiple group one winning filly will be pulled out of Saturday night's A$75,000 classic at Moonee Valley in Melbourne by trainer Geoff Small today unless
she shows dramatic improvement from a virus.
"She would need a miracle to turn things around by Saturday night," said Small. "She has come down with a bug and then not reacted well when we tried to treat it. She is really going to struggle."
Small is hopeful, but not confident, he can get Lauraella back to full health in time for a heat of the Australasian Breeders Crown at Kilmore in two weeks, otherwise she will come home and miss the finals of that series, which was her main late-season aim.
Lauraella dominated her age group this season, winning the Pascoes Northern Oaks, New Zealand Oaks, Hydroflow Final and Sales Series Pace before a luckless outing at the Harness Jewels.
But her Australian career started with a flop in the Oaks preview two weeks ago, after which Small discovered all was not well with the filly.
"It is a shame to miss this Oaks and the Breeders Crown but she has had a great season," he said.
"She actually got sick before she went to Christchurch for the Oaks down there so to win the double at Addington was something pretty special."
Small has yet to hear back from Harness Racing Victoria officials about retrospective testing of post-race swabs taken from his stable star Changeover during his summer campaign in Australia.
The tests were ordered after Changeover returned a positive swab to tranexamic acid following his win in the Len Smith Mile at Menangle in May.
A hearing relating to that positive is scheduled for Sydney on July 27.
