Cranbourne trainers Trent Busuttin and Nat Young say they are “perplexed” by the Racing Victoria testing protocols that have ruled two of their stayers out of the Melbourne Cup.

Racing Victoria announced on Wednesday that CT scans showed Muramasa and Brayden Star were at “heightened risk of injury” if they ran next at Flemington next Tuesday and were therefore “unsuitable to compete”.

The Trent Busuttin and Nat Young-trained Muramasa has failed a Melbourne Cup vet test.Credit: Getty Images

It follows the shock scratching of highly rated import Jan Brueghel on Monday night, as the number of available horses for the Cup has been whittled down to 29.

Muramasa and Brayden Star were sent to the University of Melbourne Equine Centre in Werribee on Monday for compulsory CT scans of their distal limbs.

“Reports received from an expert panel of internationally renowned equine surgeons and diagnostic imaging specialists, who reviewed Brayden Star and Muramasa’s CT scan results, indicate that both horses are currently at heightened risk of injury,” a Racing Victoria statement said.

Jockey Daniel Moor had been booked to ride Muramasa in the Cup, while Brayden Star was outside the top 24 in the order of entry and was not guaranteed a start.

“Having been advised we’re out of the running for the [Melbourne] Cup because ‘there may be a shadow that could possibly develop into a stress fracture in the future’ is perplexing,” the Busuttin-Young stable said in a statement.

The stable said Brayden Star had “never been so outwardly happy, healthy and in great form”. The horse will now be sent for a spell.

Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien hit out at Racing Victoria stewards over their decision not to allow his stayer Jan Brueghel to run in this year’s Cup after it had passed initial testing in the UK and been sent out to Australia.

“There comes a point when it becomes ridiculous, the horsemen and women have been taken out of the picture,” the trainer said in comments reported by Racing Post.

“In this part of the world, it’s horsemen who decide. There are other parts of the world where we have had a horse, where the........

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