Michelle Payne remains the only female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup after she steered Prince of Penzance to victory in 2015. Maree Lyndon was the first female to ride in the Melbourne Cup when she rode Argonaut Style in 1987.

Jockeys are being booked as the Cup field takes shape with UK horse Sea King to start in the race after a dominant win in the Bendigo Cup on Wednesday providing he passes the compulsory CT scans at Werribee.

Declan Bates rode the six-year-old who is being prepared at Werribee to victory after sweeping the field at the turn. His trainer Harry Eustace, who also prepared Docklands to run fifth in the Cox Plate, said the horse can stay having beaten home Geelong Cup winner Onesmoothoperator in the Ebor Handicap at York in August.

Earlier Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien had hit out at Racing Victoria stewards over their decision not to allow Jan Brueghel to run in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup, as the connections of another pre-post favourite Via Sistina decided not to run the Cox Plate winner in the race.

O’Brien said it was “ridiculous” that stewards ignored those responsible for the horse when they ruled the horse out on Tuesday, a week before the $8 million race.

A CT scan conducted on Jan Brueghel at Werribee on Saturday morning was the catalyst for the contentious decision after it revealed a weakness in a lower leg which stewards said would increase the risk of injury if the horse was to run in the Cup.

But O’Brien, who trains predominantly for Coolmore and is in the United States ahead of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, said he was confident Jan Brueghel was ready to perform well in the Cup.

“It was unlucky for us, lucky for them [the other Cup runners],” the trainer said in comments reported by Racing Post.

“He was a group 1 horse in a handicap with 8st 7lb (54 kilograms) and Ryan Moore riding him. And he was getting better every week, and he only ever won by very little. So that’s the way it is.”

O’Brien compared the veterinary checks unfavourably to those in place at the Breeders’ Cup and made a clear and barbed dig at the Australian authorities’ use of technology in the process.

He added: “In this part of the world, it’s horsemen who decide. There are other parts of the world where we have had a horse, where the horse trots in front of a phone. The phone videos the trot and the phone tells you whether he is sound or not.”

Racing Victoria’s integrity manager Jamie Stier told SEN the decision of a panel of vets was based on the standing CT scans taken at Werribee Equine Centre on Saturday, about five weeks after an MRI scan cleared the horse to travel from Ireland.

“Thankfully we have had three incident-free Melbourne Cups since the introduction of protocols,” Stier said. “We have to do whatever we can to protect the Melbourne Cup.”

“We acknowledge it is challenging, and we acknowledge that not everyone agrees with the protocols as they are.”

To be a final acceptor for the Melbourne Cup, horses must undergo a CT scan of their distal limbs between Caulfield Cup Day and the Thursday before the Melbourne Cup, either in Victoria or NSW using the standing CT equipment.

All international horses travelling via Werribee’s International Horse Centre must have a CT scan of their distal limbs before each start in Australia. It means Japanese visitor Warp Speed had an MRI before leaving Japan then CT scans before being cleared to run in the Caulfield Cup and the Melbourne Cup.

As the debate about Jan Brueghel’s withdrawal continued on Wednesday, connections of Cox Plate-winning mare Via Sistina announced they would not run her in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup.

The star seven-year-old set a track record to win the Cox Plate by eight lengths; a performance that saw her ranked the No.1 horse in the world.

Instead of running in the Cup, she will contest the group 1, 2000-metre Champions Stakes on the final day of the Flemington carnival on Saturday week.

Yulong Investments managing director Vin Cox told RSN the mare’s connections met with her trainer Chris Waller to make the decision.

“We just think the Melbourne Cup was never really on the radar, albeit she absolutely bolted in the Cox Plate and looked super impressive ... [it was] an afterthought, the Melbourne Cup probably doesn’t add up,” Cox said.

Via Sistina will return to stables on Wednesday to prepare for the Champions Stakes. The mare will then have a spell rather than head to Hong Kong this year for further racing.

Waller said on Tuesday that she had pulled up well from the Cox Plate win, but they would weigh up 100 factors before making the decision.

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The decision leaves champion jockey James McDonald without a ride in Tuesday’s race.

Cup rides are scarce for many experienced jockeys in 2024 as the top weight Vauban has just 55.5 kilograms, making competition fierce for those who aren’t able to ride at low weights.

Mark Zahra will chase a third consecutive Cup win on Circle of Fire, Damien Lane is on Kovalica, Joao Moreira is on Buckaroo and Kah on Okita Soushi.

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