Racehorses affected by an unknown illness at Victoria's Macedon Lodge will be tested again next week in an attempt to diagnose the sickness impacting a small number of John Symons-trained runners.
Symons and partner Sheila Laxon's team of 15 horses based at Macedon Lodge, along with fellow trainer Liam Howley's stable at the private facility west of Melbourne, have been placed in lockdown by Racing Victoria stewards after concerns were raised last Friday.
Speaking on Thursday, Symons revealed "a couple" of his horses spiked temperatures, prompting him to inform Racing Victoria stewards and his own veterinarians.
Testing undertaken so far has failed to pinpoint what the illness is, with plans for vets to take more swabs and blood tests on Monday.
"There's a couple that have got discharge from the nose and not eating. And then like two days of that and they're back eating and temperatures come back down and their noses are cleaning up," Symons told Radio TAB.
"So, whether it's just a viral infection going through or it's something more sinister, that's what we're trying to get to the bottom of."
Last year's Melbourne Cup winner Knight's Choice was among those to spike a temperature and was scratched from Saturday's Underwood Stakes at Caulfield. He was also not paid up for the Caulfield Cup because of the setback.
"There's quite a few things (that have) all changed in the last few days through Racing Victoria's testing regime and everything else," Symons said.
"They've got some experts in and it's quite frustrating because the horses aren't sick-sick, but they're not right either. So, we've just got to go through the process, I guess."
