Grant & Alana Williams’ classy Pierro mare Arcadia Queen has been scratched from today’s Group 1 $750,000 Memsie Stakes (1400m) field in Melbourne.

Arcadia Queen has been scratched from the Group 1 Memsie Stakes field at Caulfield today. Photo: Steve Hart.

The Bob Peters-owned five-year-old was to have run second-up in the Caulfield weight-for-age feature, but was withdrawn on race day morning due to a stone bruise.

Best known for her Group 1 Kingston Town Classic win as a filly in Perth back in 2018, Arcadia Queen resumed with a first-up fifth behind the Godolphin-raced Savatiano in the Group 2 P.B. Lawrence Stakes (1400m) on August 15.

Her spring campaign has been interrupted however with the mare withdrawn from the Memsie Stakes field just eight minutes before the official scratching deadline (7:30am) on Saturday morning.

The stable will take at least the next 24 hours to monitor Arcadia Queen’s condition before deciding on her rescheduled second-up run as she gears up for a shot at the Group 1 $5 million Cox Plate (2040m) at The Valley on October 24.

She is tipped as one of the top early fancies for the Australasian weight-for-age championship currently at an all-in quote of $15 in Cox Plate 2020 betting at race sponsor Ladbrokes.com.au.

Winless since her Group 2 Theo Marks Stakes success at Rosehill in mid-September last year, Arcadia Queen subsequently finished 11^th in the $14 million The Everest in the $7.5 million The Golden Eagle.

She was then sent back home to Perth with back issues and it seems her luckless run with injuries has followed her into the spring.

Updated Memsie Stakes odds for Caulfield Race 9 this afternoon meanwhile have David Jolly’s first-up Group 3 Spring Stakes winner in Adelaide, Behemoth, as the firming $3.90 favourite drawn in barrier two for jockey Craig Williams.

The aforementioned James Cummings-trained P.B. Lawrence Stakes winning mare Savatiano is the $4.60 second elect.

Adam Trinder’s 2018 All-Star Mile winner Mystic Journey is the big Memsie Stakes market mover backed right in from $11 to $8 to return to her best form.

She sits just ahead of the promising colt Glenfiddich ($9) who takes on the older horses first-up carrying just 50.5kg for his new trainer, the returning champion Peter Moody.

Click here for the latest Memsie Stakes 2020 betting market moves and odds thanks to Ladbrokes.com.au.