For the second time in two days, a finalist in the Group 1 National Derby has had to be scratched after being bitten, this time by something unknown, but believed to be a spider or large ant.
Just a day after race favourite Simon Told Helen had to be scratched after being bitten by a spider, news came through this morning that Joe Estephan has had to scratch his dog Here Comes Joe, after it too was bitten.
“He was bitten by something, we don’t know what,” Joe’s son Norm said on Friday morning. “It is just devastating.
“We are really lost for words. Dad was in tears. We can’t believe it.
“We stayed with him all last night, and iced it an everything, and took him to the vet and the said he was bitten by something but we’re not sure what.
“Dad just said today we can’t run him so we have had to scratch. It’s very disappointing.”
Here Comes Joe is the first dog Joe has trained, and his excitement about reaching a group 1 final was infectious last Friday after the heats.
The field for the $75,000 Derby will now just have six runners following the scratchings of Simon Told Helen, Here Comes Joe, Aston Sapporo (who has a toe injury) and the second reserve Zipping Vernon.
