Roe may miss Melbourne

RACING: Connections of Vinnie Roe have threatened to withdraw the four-times Irish St Leger winner from the Emirates Melbourne Cup if the ground is not soft enough.

Mark Weld, son of Vinnie Roe's trainer Dermot Weld, revealed that the six-year-old would miss Australia's biggest race at Flemington next Tuesday unless there was plenty of rain.

"Everything hinges on what falls from above. If there is not a considerable ease in the ground he won't partake," Weld junior said yesterday.

Meanwhile, all five of the Aidan O'Brien-trained horses scheduled to appear in Saturday night's Breeders' Cup at Lone Star Park will run on lasix.

The Ballydoyle team of Powerscourt (Turf), Antonius Pius (Mile), Yesterday (Fillies & Mares), Scandinavia (Juvenile) and Mona Lisa (Juvenile Fillies) left Shannon yesterday on a direct charter flight to Dallas.

Back home at Leopardstown, O'Brien, who is likely to travel to Texas today, confirmed that they will run on the anti-bleeding drug, lasix.

"Everything we run over there always does. It's no disadvantage," he said. "It seems to be a fast track, a typical American style track. As far as I know there are no humps and valleys!"

Initial work on the turf course by some of the Breeders' Cup contenders has resulted in some slower than expected times indicating that the surface may not be as quick as anticipated.

O'Brien has the strongest representation among a slimmed-down European challenge as he goes in search of a fourth success in the Breeders' Cup series.

Ballydoyle's stable jockey Jamie Spencer will get an early taste of Lone Star on Thursday when he takes part in a three-race International Jockeys' Championship. The visiting riders will also include Frankie Dettori, Kieren Fallon and Christophe Soumillion and they will take on American stars like Jerry Bailey and Edgar Prado. Spencer will ride at Limerick today and will then take another transatlantic flight after Brian Boru's third placing in Sunday night's Canadian International.

O'Brien indicated yesterday that the 2003 St Leger winner is now likely to be retired. Spencer will miss tomorrow's Gowran meeting but the chances of that going ahead appear to be slim with an inspection already called for 7.30 tomorrow morning.