Melbourne Cup dream shattered for Crystal Black Royal Ascot winner and leading Melbourne Cup contender Crystal Black has been ruled out of a trip to Australia following a viral infection. The six-year-old has won each of his four starts this season for the father-son combination of Ger and Colin Keane, sparking scenes of wild celebration in the Ascot winner’s enclosure in landing the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes in June. Having since progressed to Pattern company with a dominant Group Three success in Leopardstown’s Ballyroan Stakes, the six-year-old was all set to head to Flemington with leading claims, but he was not among the initial nominations and his trainer has revealed he will sit out the rest of 2024. Royal Ascot hero will return after winter break “He’s had a bit of a setback and is going to go on his winter break,” said Keane. “It’s nothing serious, but you have to go by him and he wouldn’t ready for it (Melbourne Cup). “He got a viral infection and his bloods were very low and he wasn’t himself. You’d have to be pushing him to run in it, so it wouldn’t be the right thing to do and it wouldn’t be fair on the horse. “It’s only a minor setback, so we’ll put him away for the winter and see where we go next year.”
