A Melbourne Cup start has been ruled out for Cox Plate third placegetter Silent Achiever.

Silent Achiever’s owners accepted the recommendation of trainer Roger James that she should return home to New Zealand for a spell ahead of another Australian campaign in the autumn.

Owner-breeder Kevin Hickman was keen to see the mare contest the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday week at Flemington but heeded the advice of James after the trainer inspected the mare on Sunday morning.

“She was set for the Cox Plate and she gave us everything,” Hickman said. “She’s done the best by us and now we have to do the best by her.”

“It was a hard run, which has to be expected given the race it is and the effort she put in. If it means missing the Melbourne Cup that’s the way it has to be.”

Silent Achiever was the only mare in the Cox Plate and her close third behind Adelaide and Fawkner was her best run in Melbourne this spring.

James had been worried about a Melbourne Cup start for Silent Achiever from the time the weights were released as he was not impressed with her 56.5kg despite her imposing G1 record.

However James felt she was not well treated with only 2kg less than Japan’s Caulfield Cup winner Admiral Rakti.

She is expected to be set for the same autumn program as this year when she won the NZ Stakes at Ellerslie and the Ranvet Stakes-BMW double at Rosehill before finishing fourth in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick.