The morning line favorite, Muth, has been ruled out of Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, giving Mystik Dan, the winner of the Kentucky Derby, a greater opportunity to win the second jewel of the U.S. Triple Crown.
Bob Baffert, Muth’s trainer, said that Muth’s temperature on Tuesday at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore forced him to withdraw his athlete from the race.
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Baffert declared on Wednesday, “We are sick about this.” “The horse was performing incredibly well. But we must act in the horse’s best interests.”
Muth has six starts, four victories, and two seconds. Among the triumphs was the Arkansas Derby, when Mystik Dan came in third, six and a quarter lengths back. Because of Baffert’s exclusion from Churchill Downs, Muth refrained from running in the Kentucky Derby.
Following the scratch, there are eight contenders for the Preakness, with Mystik Dan being the clear favorite. To complete the Triple Crown sweep, all he would need to do was win the June 8 Belmont Stakes.
The race is being held at Saratoga in upstate New York this year because of construction at Belmont Park; the distance has been shortened from 1 1/2 miles to 1 1/4 miles.
