Racing Victoria vets have started their examination of the 29 horses remaining in the 2021 Melbourne Cup to ascertain their suitability to accept for Australia’s great race.

The vets inspected 25 of those 29 horses, passing 22, with three horses to undergo further examinations on Friday for the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on Tuesday.

Final acceptances for the Melbourne Cup field are taken on Saturday at 4.30pm.

Second favourite Spanish Mission, trained by Andrew Balding, will be re-examined after it presented with swelling in its right foreleg.

The stable veterinarian has since assessed the horse and no significant abnormality was detected.

The Chosen One (Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman) will be re-examined as a precaution due to mild lameness in the right foreleg with the stable farrier attending to the horse in the interim while Delphi (Anthony and Sam Freedman) presented with mild lameness in its near foreleg.

Future Score (Matt Cumani), She’s Ideel (Bjorn Baker), Fun Fact (Bjorn Baker) and Forgot You (Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young) will be examined for the first time on Friday.

RV Stewards were advised on Thursday that Hasta La War (Sue Murphy), Mosh Music (Archie Alexander), Constantinople (Aaron Purcell), Tooradin (Ciaron Maher and David Eustace) and Amade (Phillip Stokes) would not be accepting for the Melbourne Cup cutting the number still in contention down to 29.

Melbourne Cup entrants that contest Saturday’s Group 3 Hotham Stakes (2500m) at Flemington will be re-examined by RV vets following the race to re-confirm their suitability to accept later that afternoon.

An additional pre-race inspection of all horses in the final field will be conducted by a panel of RV veterinarians on Monday.