LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Wimbledon and St Averil were withdrawn from today’s 130th Kentucky Derby after waking up with injuries yesterday.
Wimbledon suffered a dime-sized knot on his left front leg that could sideline him throughout the Triple Crown races. St Averil’s front hooves were deemed too sore.
The defections left 18 horses in the field. With Wimbledon in the No.5 post and St Averil in No.9, the inside four horses will slide over two post positions. No.1 Limehouse greatly benefits from the move because he won’t need a quick start to avoid the awkward run to the rail.
Wimbledon trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Jerry Bailey, with a combined five victories, will miss the Derby. Bailey hadn’t missed a Derby since 1990, and Baffert has entered 13 horses over eight years.
“I’m disappointed — guess I’ll have to hang around another year,” said Bailey, who had been considering retirement at year’s end. “But it is a little easier for me. I make it here every year, and usually so does Bob.”
Baffert discovered the injury while removing Wimbledon’s bandages around 6 a.m. Citing late Hall of Fame trainer Charlie Whittingham’s adage that “horses are like strawberries — they go bad overnight,” Baffert said he couldn’t risk the Louisiana Derby winner.
“There’s something going on there,” he said. “It’s probably not that bad, but if we were to run him, we could really hurt him. These horses are so fragile that [it only takes] one little misstep. It’s just very disappointing. This horse was really looking great in the mornings, and he loves the wet track.”
St Averil was considered one of California’s top 3-year-old colts before finishing sixth as the 2-1 favorite in the Santa Anita Derby. Trainer Rafael Becerra’s worries about the tenderness of his hooves seemed needless after the colt worked well April24. However, St Averil appeared bothered and was reshod yesterday. Becerra wasn’t satisfied and opted to withdraw.
“He’s too nice a colt to take a chance with,” Becerra said, “and he has a great future ahead of him.”
Eat to win
The Kentucky Derby isn’t just about watching horses. Eating and drinking are a big part of the festivities.
With eight hours to spend before the post time of 6:04 p.m., a few hundred thousand fans will be chowing down on 63,000 jumbo shrimp, 25,000 derby pies, 12,000 pounds of smoked pork, 7,000 pounds of beef and 3,000 pounds of cheese.
The crowd will wash it down with 120,000 mint juleps and 3,400 glasses of champagne, in addition to beer and soda pop.
Fans will be partying in 23 new luxury suites at Churchill Downs.
Levy Restaurants, the track’s Chicago-based catering service, is creating edible hats inspired by the often outrageous chapeaus worn by fans. One of their designs is an 18-inch wide by 5-inch tall hat made out of a vanilla raspberry mocha cake with vanilla fondant icing and adorned with edible white magnolias.
No replacements
The scratches of Wimbledon and St Averil came too late to help Eddington and Rock Hard Ten.
They remain on the outside looking in even though two slots came open.
The Derby does not allow horses to draw into the race to replace scratches, claiming it negatively impacts advance wagering on the race.
Most tracks and stakes have “also-eligible” lists of horses who can substitute in the event of defections.
The Derby permits only 20 starters, and the race was oversubscribed. The top 20 horses based on graded-stakes earnings got spots in the race when the entries closed Wednesday. Eddington, $95,000, and Rock Hard Ten, $90,000, were excluded because they ranked 21st and 22nd on the earnings list.
• The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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