As the horses and jockeys took to the field for Saturday’s Cox Plate at Moonee Valley, one jockey was missing.

Stathi is inside me! We will fight this fight together. I know this is what he wants.

Stathi Katsidis’ was due to race in the Spring Racing Carnival event, but his sudden death last Tuesday sent his family and the sporting world into turmoil.

BROTHER WILL FIGHT ON

But Stathi’s younger brother Michael announced on Thursday he will not miss fighting Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez for the world lightweight title in Las Vegas next month.

“The fight will go on,” he said.

“I will do this for Stathi, my family and myself.”

The champion boxer was in Thailand training for the fight when he heard the news of his brother’s death.

He said, in the training session that followed, “I worked as I have never done before.”

“I have never experienced anything like I felt that day,” he said.

“Stathi is inside me! We will fight this fight together. I know this is what he wants.”

Stathi Katsidis’ death shocked his family and the racing industry this week.

In an interview with Neos Kosmos only last week, Katsides said he was confident about this year’s Spring Racing Carnival, citing Shoot Out as a “happy” horse.

“From a Cox Plate point of view, he’s a great chance and I really think he can win the Melbourne Cup; it’s very exciting,” he said.

TRAINER SHOCKED

Trainer John Wallace told The Age he was shocked.

“He was a good bloke. He was one of those happy-go-lucky fellas. He didn’t have an enemy, I’ll bet on that. I can’t believe it,” he said.

An initial autopsy was unable to determine the exact cause of death, but his fiancee Melissa Jackson, wept as she told AAP she believes she knows what killed him.

FIANCEE REGRETS FINAL MOVE

“I know what the autopsy has said but I believe in my heart he suffocated,” she said.

“He’d been drinking for 12 hours straight and couldn’t walk but I couldn’t carry him to bed.”

Ms Jackson, who found her fiance’s body on Tuesday morning, says she regrets moving her fiance from the couch.

“I was worried he might be sick in his sleep so I moved him to the floor and put a pillow under his head.

“He was fine then but when I woke later around eight he was in a similar position but face down in the pillow, dead.”

REPLACEMENT JOCKEY: COREY BROWN

Stathi was due to ride the John Wallace-trained Shootout in the Cox Plate in Moonee Valley on Saturday.

Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Corey Brown will race on the horse instead of his one-time rival.
Brown made it clear he had not asked to ride Shootout.

“I’ve got a job to do out there and ride my absolute best for Stathi, John and the connections of the horse,” Brown told the Brisbane Times.

”I still feel numb, I still cannot believe what has happened, everyone is shocked.”