Darren Weir’s defending champion Black Heart Bart has been scratched from Saturday’s Ladbrokes CF Orr Stakes 2018 field due to hoof issues.

Hoof issues have ruled Black Heart Bart out of Saturday’s Ladbrokes CF Orr Stakes 2018 field. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

The seven-year-old son of Blackfriars has been plagued by feet problems over his 47 start career to date and has again succumbed to a foot abscess discovered on Friday morning, just after he’d been confirmed to race on the weekend without the protective bar-plates.

Set to have his first start of the autumn in the Group 1 $500,000 Ladbrokes C.F. Orr Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield, a race the track and distance specialist won last year, Black Heart Bart has now officially been scratched from the weight-for-age feature.

Weir is likely to reschedule the first-up run for the five-time Group 1 champion for a fortnight’s time where Black Heart Bart will chase successive wins in the Group 1 $500,000 Futurity Stakes (1400m) on Blue Diamond Stakes Day.

Last year’s winning trainer still saddles-up two chances in the Ladbrokes CF Orr Stakes field for 2018 with the widely-drawn favourite Tosen Stardom (13) and fellow Japanese expat Brave Smash (5).

Tosen Stardom heads CF Orr Stakes betting at $4.20 through Ladbrokes.com.au to post his first win over less than 1600m, the Emirates Stakes winner to be ridden by Damian Lane.

Brave Smash meanwhile is second-up and likely fitter for his first-up fifth in the Group 2 Australia Stakes (1200m) at The Valley on January 26, a race that has produced five of the CF Orr Stakes winners since 2011.

Stay tuned for our updated CF Orr Stakes 2018 betting tips.