Jaycito to miss Derby, aim for Belmont
Grade 1 Kentucky Derby has been compromised by a hoof bruise, will be forced to miss the 137th Run for the Roses. A distant runner-up to the sidelined Premier Pegasus in the Grade 2 San Felipe in his March 12 reappearance, Jaycito developed the hoof bruise a couple of weeks later. Although the Bob Baffert trainee was able to record a six-furlong work in 1:13 2/5 at Santa Anita on April 2, he exited the drill with tenderness in the foot. Baffert decided to scratch him from the April 9 Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby and aim for this past Saturday's Grade 3 Lexington at Keeneland. Yet Jaycito has yet to turn in a timed work, and the back-up plan didn't come to fruition. "He's not 100 percent," owner Ahmed Zayat told Steve Haskin of The Blood-Horse, "and neither Bob nor I would ever run a horse just for the sake of running.
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"I believe he's a true mile and a quarter horse and he would have shined, but
the Derby is not the end of the world. I want to have a sound, healthy, and fit
horse the rest of the year and we want to have a lot of fun with him."
"He's moving forward and the foot is finally healing, but there is no way I
can have him ready to be competitive enough to win the Derby," Baffert said.
Jaycito will now point for the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes on June 11.
Zayat has another Derby contender in Nehro, a hard-charging runner-up in both
the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby and the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby.
Baffert also has Santa Anita Derby winner Midnight Interlude in his arsenal,
and his Grade 2 Rebel victor The Factor could contest the Kentucky Derby as well.
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