Last year's G1 Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}), a well-beaten seventh before pulling up sore in last Saturday's G1 Sydney Cup at Royal Randwick, will be spelled six to eight weeks before connections reassess him with the hopes of embarking on a spring campaign, according to Racing and Sports. Tests performed this week revealed the 5-year-old had a badly bruised left knee, but no chips or breaks.
“It's good considering what we thought it was going to be this time yesterday,” trainer Kris Lees told Racing and Sports.
“He got down on his bumpers really badly [in the Sydney Cup] so he could have hyperextended [his knee], which caused some bruising and he did have some localized swelling behind his knee.”
If Protectionist is deemed healthy enough for an Australian spring campaign, a title defense of the Melbourne Cup will be his main goal.
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