Anneau d’Or scratched from Los Alamitos Derby

Just when Anneau d’Or was rounding back into form, an illness has knocked him out of a scheduled start on Saturday in the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby.

Anneau d’Or, runner-up last year in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity, and fourth in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby two months ago, shipped midweek from Golden Gate Fields to Los Alamitos. But on Friday, trainer Blaine Wright suspected the colt would not start in the Los Alamitos Derby.

“He started running a temperature Friday morning, and didn’t clean up (his feed),” Wright said Saturday. “He had a slight temperature, so we had no choice but to take him out.”

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Peter Redekop owns Anneau d’Or, a top 2-year-old last season whose 3-year-old campaign got off to a rocky start. He finished ninth with trouble in a Grade 2 at Fair Grounds, followed by a fifth-place finish in a Grade 1 at Oaklawn Park.

But last out, Anneau d’Or showed signs of returning to form. He broke running in the Santa Anita Derby, pressed the pace and finished a creditable fourth behind Honor A. P. The Los Alamitos Derby would have been his next start.

Anneau d’Or is nominated to the Oceanside Stakes on Friday at Del Mar, but unlikely to run. “I nominated him as a backup in case something weird happened with the van and we didn’t get (to Los Alamitos),” Wright said. “We’re just going to let the horse do the talking right now.”

The scratch of Anneau d’Or reduces the Los Al Derby to a field of four, led by Bob Baffert trainees Uncle Chuck and Thousand Words. The scratch of Anneau d’Or benefits program favorite Uncle Chuck, whose only apparent pace rival is Great Power.

Odds-on favorites have won the Los Alamitos Derby four of six years since the race moved to Los Alamitos. It was previously the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park. Baffert has won the Los Alamitos Derby four times, including the last three.