Bruised heel stops King Magnus

A bruised heel has put an end to the Cranbourne Cup hopes of King Magnus.

The Robbie Griffiths and Mathew de Kock-trained galloper was a notable absentee from acceptances for Saturday’s Listed 1600m race when they closed on Wednesday.

King Magnus won the first staging of the revamped Cranbourne Cup on a rain-soaked track two years ago and Griffiths and de Kock had been planning a second shot at the race for months.

But a bruised heel following a jump-out at Cranbourne on Monday put an end to those plans.

“It happened Monday after the jump-out, and it was not right this morning,” a devastated de Kock said.

“The vet doubted it would be right by Saturday, so we went with veterinary advice and didn’t accept.

“The whole prep was based around him running in the Cranbourne Cup, but the beautiful thing about Victorian racing is there is a race for him every weekend basically.”

De Kock said the stable had not given up hopes of starting King Magnus in the Listed Ballarat Cup (2000m) on December 9.

While King Magnus is yet to race beyond 1700m, de Kock said the 2000m journey was something he and Griffiths had been considering for some time.

“Hopefully we can find another route for him and try and get him to the Ballarat Cup,” de Kock said.

“That was the aim, run on Saturday and then onto the Ballarat Cup.

“We’ve always wanted to try him at 2000 metres. He has always given the indication, looking at his data, that he would love it.

“But we’ve just never had the opportunity to try it, and who knows, it might not happen again, but that was the thinking before all of this happened.

“The horse is not injured, it’s just a minor setback.”