Racing fans won’t get the early season sighting of Melbourne Cup candidate Vin De Dance (Roc de Cambes) as originally planned.

Vin De Dance slipped into contention for the Gr.1 A$7.3 million Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 6 when winning last season’s Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) at Ellerslie before finishing fourth in both the Gr.1 Rosehill Guineas (2000m), when relegated from second, and the Gr.1 ATC Derby (2400m).

He was put aside for a spell after the Sydney campaign and was coming up nicely until a minor setback.

“He’s had a few gallops and was basically on track to do more, but he had a few niggling issues and it was best to back off him,” co-trainer Andrew Forsman said.

“He had some stiffness in his back area and just wasn’t right. “By backing off now, he’s got time to get over the problem and he still has a chance to get to the Melbourne Cup if he comes up well enough.

“The plan is to give him 10 days off so he’ll be back in work in about a week. He wasn’t far off trialling when we put him out so he won’t lose much fitness.”

Vin De Dance has been lightly tried and, though he won on debut over 1200m at Pukekohe 11 months ago, he excelled when stepped-up over ground and benefited from a two-race Melbourne spring campaign last year in which he ran third then fifth.
-NZ Racing Desk