Diamond King scratched from Private Terms with fever

Diamond King was scratched from the $100,000 Private Terms at Laurel Park on Saturday after spiking a fever, according to trainer John Servis.

A promising 3-year-old son of Quality Road, Diamond King was purchased for $235,000 as a 2-year-old last May by the Cash Is King Stable of Chuck Zacney. His ownership group now also includes the DJ Stable of Leonard Green and the LC Racing of Glenn Bennett.

"It's not bad," Servis said of the fever, "but I told Chuck that if we send him to Laurel, he probably isn't going to run good, and the race will take a lot out of him."

Diamond King developed a fever Thursday, according to Servis, and a blood test was taken. The test was repeated Friday, and the results came back worse than the day before.

"He's coming down with something," Servis said. "We'll just have to monitor him and see how it plays out the rest of the week."

Servis had prepared Diamond King for the Private Terms at the Palm Meadows Training Center in South Florida and then shipped him to Parx last weekend.

"It's disappointing because he was so ready, and we have put a lot of effort into this race, shipping him up from Florida," Servis said.

Diamond King is 3 for 5, including a victory in the seven-furlong Heft Stakes at Laurel in December.

The 1 1/16-mile Private Terms was to have been his first true two-turn race. He unseated jockey Frankie Pennington last November entering the first turn of the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club, a 1 1/16-mile race at Churchill Downs.

The illness comes at a bad time as the major spring 3-year-old stakes are rapidly approaching. Diamond King finished third in the seven-furlong Swale in his lone start of the year, and the Private Terms could have been a launching pad to more important races.

"There really isn’t much left; the Tesio or the Lexington is pretty much it for him right now," Servis said.

The $125,000 Tesio is a 1 1/8-mile race at Laurel on April 21. The Grade 3, $200,000 Lexington will be run at 1 1/16 miles at Keeneland on April 14.

California Night also has been scratched from the Private Terms, leaving a field of seven. California Night is entered in race 2 at Aqueduct today.