Estimate Out of Melbourne Cup Consideration

The Queen’s Estimate (Ire) (Monsun {Ger}) will not run in the G1 Emirates Melbourne Cup at Flemington according to John Warren, bloodstock and racing advisor to The Queen. Connections of the Sir Michael Stoute-trained mare will resist the urge to send the 5-year-old to Australia for the coveted prize Nov. 4, instead opting to stay closer to home after she impressively returned to winning ways in the G2 Doncaster Cup Sept. 12. Estimate will now have one more start before retiring and beginning her career as a broodmare. 

“After much consideration and in the best interest of the filly, it has been decided that Estimate will not be heading to the Melbourne Cup,” said Warren in a statement. “Her final target will be either the [G2] QIPCO British Champions Long Distance Cup at Ascot or the G1 Qatar Prix du Cadran at Longchamp, after which she will be retired to The Royal Studs.” 

Last season’s G1 Gold Cup heroine may have run heroically to finish second in defense of her crown at Royal Ascot June 19, but just a month a later she returned a positive test for morphine. Estimate was one of a cluster of horses to have become embroiled in the case, with the source of the drug identified as a contaminated batch of horse feed and is still likely to be disqualified from this season’s Gold Cup at a BHA hearing Sept. 25.