[NoChanceToDance]

It just gets worse for O'Brien.

From RP.........

by Tony O'Hehir
.


RETIREMENT beckons for Scorpion after trainer Aidan O'Brien on Tuesday confirmed that the three-time Group 1 winner would miss the Emirates Melbourne Cup on Tuesday because of a suspected muscular injury picked up when he worked at Sandown racecourse on Monday.

O'Brien flew into Melbourne early on Tuesday following a delayed flight from Los Angeles and after checking out Scorpion, as well as Mahler who will fly the flag for the Coolmore-Ballydoyle team in Tuesday's big race at Flemington, he spoke of the sadness and frustration brought by events at Monmouth Park and at Sandown in the preceding 48 hours.

Facing the assembled media pack outside the quarantine yard at Sandown, O'Brien said: "Scorpion is very lame and the problem is in the stifle area of his off-hindleg. The x-rays are clear and no bones are broken, so it looks as if it is a ligament or muscle problem.

"He suffered a hairline fracture to the pastern of the same leg two years ago. He recovered fully from that injury and this is a different problem.

"The horse is going to be fine. We will see what the vets have to say, but I'd imagine he is probably going to be retired now. The plan had been to keep him in training next year but he is a special horse and now that this problem has cropped up the likelihood is that he won't run again."
O'Brien was still in the US when his representative Andrew Murphy, who is on his second trip to Melbourne where he supervised Yeats' bid for last year's Melbourne Cup, phoned to alert him of Scorpion's situation.

O'Brien said: "After the day we had at the Breeders' Cup I was prepared to believe anything. Andrew told me that Scorpion and Mahler had worked well but that when Scorpion cooled down it became obvious there was a problem. We can't be sure what happened, but the likelihood is that he tweaked something when he worked.

"It is a pity as we thought he was the right type of horse for the race. Having learned from our experience with Yeats here last year, we believed Scorpion was a bit quicker horse at this stage of his career and that he might suit the race better."

In all he won four races and £958,059 (€1,373,830) in win and place prize-money.