Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Mike Moroney faces a race against time to have longshot Alenquer ready for Tuesday's Group 1 3200-metre feature with the stable advising Racing Victoria stewards that the gelding suffered a stone bruise after trackwork on Sunday morning.
Rated a $61 chance, Alenquer is set to be Damien Oliver's final Melbourne Cup ride, the 32nd of his career that comes to an end in December.
A hoof pad will be applied for the next 24-hours and the gelding will be examined again by veterinarians on Monday as a part of mandatory pre-race inspections.
Alenquer's last victory was in the Group 1 Tattersall's Gold Cup (about 2100 metres) in Ireland in May 2022 and has since gone winless in eight starts across France and Australia.
Alenquer drew barrier nine in the field of 24 for the $8 million highlight.
"It'll be great to be a part of his fairy tale, wouldn't it," Moroney said after the Cup barrier draw on Saturday.
"Don't mind being a part of that. He's had 31 rides and I've had 24 runners so we're both seasoned."
Moroney trained Brew to victory in the Melbourne Cup in 2000.
