Heavy rain in England this week has thrown a spanner in the works of several European Melbourne Cup hopes.
Septimus, the current second favourite for the Melbourne Cup, headed the list of several European stayers whose plans for November's race were dealt an unexpected blow by persistent rain in York.
Already, the first two days of York's four-day Ebor Festival have been washed out and a track inspection on Wednesday night will determine whether the final two days of racing will also have to be abandoned.
Wednesday's forecast is for sunny intervals but heavy showers have been predicted for Thursday and Friday in York, which has already had more than four times the average rainfall for August.
Officials were also assessing whether the carnival's feature race and Europe's richest handicap - the Ebor - and the Group One Juddmonte International Stakes could be rescheduled for Thursday and Friday.
"We are also considering racing on Saturday and going through the implication and logistics of taking that unprecedented move," said racecourse chief William Derby.
There are five potential Cup runners in this year's Ebor, headed by Luca Cumani's race favourite Mad Rush, Young Mick, Milne Graden, Pippa Greene and Minkowski.
The Ebor, won last year by subsequent Melbourne Cup runner-up Purple Moon, is considered an important lead-up race to the Flemington race.
The Juddmonte features one of Europe's best gallopers, the Aidan O'Brien-trained Duke Of Marmalade, who has been entered for the Cox Plate.
Septimus was due to start on Tuesday night in the Lonsdale Cup (3299m) against possible spring carnival rivals Bulwark, Royal And Regal, Sagara and Yellowstone.
It's unknown whether the Lonsdale Cup was one of the races being considered for a reschedule.
Should the races not go ahead it will present an unwelcome but by no means disastrous problem for Racing Victoria Limited.
"We need to have a look at what other races are available for them in the next week or so and see if they can run in those as back up," said RVL racing operations manager Paul Bloodworth.
"The European horses are pretty adaptable and have spaces between runs so if they have other options, they'll do that and it shouldn't impact too much."
"It's still too early to panic."