Astern out of Guineas

Star Godolphin colt Astern is out of the Caulfield Guineas, with his Spring campaign to take a different path.

Astern has recovered from the setback that ruled him out of Saturday’s G3 Guineas Prelude and subsequently forced him to miss next month’s G1 Caulfield Guineas.

But a number of other options remain for the colt who raced his way to the top of Australian three-year-old standings with his brilliant G1 Golden Rose victory earlier this month.

But the interruption to his preparation required Guineas plans to be revised.

Treatment he received after he was found to have an elevated temperature on Sunday meant Astern could not run in the Prelude, and cast doubt on a start in the Guineas, a race for which he had earned favouritism with his brilliant G1 Golden Rose win.

Trainer John O’Shea said Astern’s blood picture was back to normal and he was no longer running a temperature.

“He’s made a good recovery but because he will miss the lead-up run on Saturday we had to reconsider running him in the Guineas,” O’Shea said.

While Astern’s immediate Spring target is no longer in sight, O’Shea and the Godolphin team will consider other options.

“Nothing has been decided yet, but there are some good options for him which we will assess over the coming days,” O’Shea said.