Cup blow for King Pedro as spring hangs by a thread

Melbourne Cup hopes for the emerging stayer King Pedro (NZ) (Eminent) might soon be finished for 2026 with the New Zealand bred galloper laid low by an infection.

OTI Racing director Terry Henderson said on Sunday that King Pedro’s spring future was “in the balance” as he was now certain to miss the Gr.2 Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick on October 3, which was a race that would have fully qualified him for the Melbourne Cup.

“He’s had a bad blood count this week and an infection, so he is going to miss the Metropolitan and that means we are looking at other options,” Henderson said on Sunday.

“His spring is in the balance. Because he is a relatively immature horse, we wouldn’t be rushing him through.

“He’s had this infection for the last week, and the blood hasn’t improved much this morning (Sunday) so his spring is up in the air.

“If they wanted to spell him, I wouldn’t disagree with it.”

Meanwhile Henderson provided some updates on other OTI Racing runners:

Wigmore (NZ) (Sweynesse) “Unfortunately, it’s a tendon injury. He’ll be out until after next autumn. He’ll go on our rehab procedure – we’ve had some good success with that – but he’s off the scene for 12 months.”

Warmonger (NZ) (War Decree) “He has come through his tendon rehab really well and he’s down to trial on Monday week ahead of his comeback.”