Melbourne Cup favourite Via Sistina has been ruled out of the race.

Owner Yulong Investments announced on social media that the Cox Plate winner would not run next Tuesday, after becoming the number one ranked runner in the world.

"Via Sistina officially ranked the world's number 1 racehorse! The Cox Plate has always been her main target, to win it is nothing short of a dream," a Yulong Investments statement said on X on Wednesday morning.

"Following this peak performance and after much consideration, it has been decided she will not contest the 2024 Melbourne Cup."

Via Sistina became the world's top-ranked horse on the back of her eight-lengths win in course-record time at Moonee Valley last Saturday.

The decision leaves champion jockey James McDonald without a ride for the Melbourne Cup.

While trainer Chris Waller was track-side at Flemington on Tuesday to watch his Spring Carnival charges go through their paces, Via Sistina was spending some recovery time at a farm.

Bought by Yulong Investments for $5.5 million in December last year, Via Sistina smashed Winx's race record in the 2,040m Group 1 feature.

Jockey Damien Lane, who will ride another Waller-trained Cup mount Kovalica, finished second in the Cox Plate aboard Prognosis. He described Vis Sistina as a "freak".

"He (Prognosis) was great and we couldn't have been happier with how he ran," Lane said.

"We thought we executed the plan well but we were beaten by a freak on the day.

"Via Sistina was incredible … I wanted to run the quickest 2,000m I could and achieved that, and when she came past me it was a shock."

European star Jan Brueghel was ruled out on veterinary advice on Tuesday. It followed a CT scan that took place last Saturday.

A Racing Victoria statement did not specify the issue, but said the Irish four-year-old was "at heightened risk of injury".

Meanwhile, Gai Waterhouse insists her Cup chance, Just Fine, will live up to his name after finishing dead last in Friday's Moonee Valley Gold Cup.

"He's a quirky horse," Waterhouse said from Flemington on Tuesday.

"We went to the Gold Cup thinking he'd run very well, hoping we wouldn't get the [weight] penalty and we certainly didn't, so we come in with 53 kilograms on a track he's been successful on.

"He's been set for the Cup and it's happened before. Horses have run poorly on different tracks and races and he's fine. He's just fine."

More than 30 horses remain on the Melbourne Cup list of acceptances, with the final field to be confirmed after Saturday's meeting at Flemington.

AAP