Injury rules out straight track specialist

Trainer Danny O'Brien said he'd been forced to send Adamantium to the paddock and miss the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap after the horse injured himself following a track gallop earlier in the month.

"We just can't get him right," O'Brien said.

"There is nothing there on x-ray, but he is very sore in one knee. There was no point pushing him.

"It's a shame because the Newmarket is a race that he might have been right in - it's not as strong as the past two or three years."

O'Brien will be represented in the $1 million race by Shamexpress, which is coming off a sixth behind Black Caviar in the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes at Flemington on February 16.

"He just got exposed against her," O'Brien said.

"He went with her for 500 metres and that just gutted him.

"There will never be another sprinter like her. She is just extraordinary.

"The Newmarket will be a different race and with 50 kilos and a bit of cover he'll be in with a chance."

Story by Adrian Dunn, to view full Racing Network story click here

Photo by Bruno Cannatelli, to view Bruno's website click here