Marina Ballerina withdrawn from Princess Rooney

Trainer Kirk Ziadie scratched Robert Pastor's five-year-old mare MARINA

BALLERINA (Outflanker) from Saturday's $350,000 Princess Rooney H. (G1) the

morning of the race, citing a possible oncoming illness.

"She coughed a couple of times (Friday) morning," Ziadie said. "I took a

blood (test) and her white blood cells were a little elevated. She's trying to

come down with something, so I'm trying to do the right thing.

"It's a big disappointment," he added. "We'd been pointing her to this race

all along. We were excited about running in the Grade 1. I'm fortunate that my

owner understands and he made it (the decision to scratch) real easy for me."

Marina Ballerina had won her two starts at Calder this year, including the

prep for the Princess Rooney, the June 13 U Can Do It H.

Earlier in the week, trainer Bob Baffert withdrew dual champion INDIAN

BLESSING (Indian Charlie). Baffert told the Daily Racing Form that they

had been treating the four-year-old for a hind leg infection and they were

worried about issues arising from postrace testing.

"We gave her penicillin for a few days," Baffert explained. "Penicillin has

procaine in it, so we tested her Monday and again Wednesday and my vet felt,

after talking to the state lab in Florida, that she could be too close to the

threshold levels allowed in Florida to take a chance."