[Photo Credit: News.com.au]

Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup numbers have been reduced to 23 after Point Nepean was ruled out due to an elevated blood result.

The development on Monday leaves Lloyd Williams with just one horse, Serpentine, in the 3200m race.

While it is unclear exactly which markers in Point Nepean’s blood were elevated, an elevated blood result often points to the horse being in the early stages of an illness.

The $51 chance is the first official scratching of the $8m race and therefore cannot be replaced for the race that stops the nation, which gets underway at Flemington Racecourse.

Point Nepean was due to be ridden by jockey Warne Lordan.

Makram was also ruled out on Friday after vets discovered an abnormality in his CT scan.

That news came just one day after vets ruled Caulfield Cup winner Durston out of the Cup after spotting a potential injury during pre-race scans.

[Source: news.com.au]