Estimate to have one more run Royal stayer Estimate will not run in the Emirates Melbourne Cup at Flemington, said John Warren, bloodstock and racing advisor to the Queen. Connections of the Sir Michael Stoute-trained mare will resist the urge to send the five-year-old to Australia for the coveted prize on November 4th, instead opting to stay closer to home after she impressively returned to winning ways in the Doncaster Cup on Friday. Estimate will now have one more outing, at either Ascot or at Longchamp, before she is retired to embark upon a career as a broodmare. Warren said in a statement issued to Press Association Sport: "After much consideration and in the best interest of the filly, it has been decided that Estimate will not be heading to the Melbourne Cup. "Her final target will be either the Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup at Ascot or the Qatar Prix du Cadran at Longchamp, after which she will be retired to The Royal Studs." Last season's Gold Cup heroine may have run heroically to finish second in defence of her crown at Royal Ascot in June, but just a month a later she returned a positive test for morphine. Estimate was one of a cluster of horses to have become embroiled in the case, with the source of the drug identified as a contaminated batch of horse feed. Even so, she is still likely to be disqualified from this season's Gold Cup at a British Horseracing Authority hearing on September 25.
