El Kabeir scratched from Kentucky Derby due to foot bruise

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – El Kabeir made it through the harsh New York winter to get to Churchill Downs, but he won’t make the starting gate for Saturday’s 141st Kentucky Derby.

Due to a bruise of his left front foot – the extent of which is not yet completely known – El Kabeir was officially scratched Friday afternoon from Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.

The scratch of El Kabeir did not come in time for the also-eligible Tale of Verve to make it into the field. El Kabeir would have had to have been scratched when wagering opened at 9 a.m. Friday. At that point, El Kabeir’s connections wanted to give the colt time to see if the foot would improve, but, as trainer John Terranova said mid-afternoon, “it’s not getting any better.”

Terranova noticed something wrong early Friday morning when El Kabeir walked out of the stall to train during the 5:45 a.m.-6 a.m. window reserved for Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks horses. Terranova said El Kabeir took a couple of funny steps, so the horse stayed in the barn.

The plan was to soak the foot in hot water and Epsom salts in an effort to draw the heat and any pulse out of the foot. It’s not yet known if the horse will pop an abscess out of the foot, if he has a quarter crack, or if there is another issue, according to Terranova.

Naturally, Terranova and his wife, Tonja, who also is his assistant, were disappointed. Tonja and the couple’s two daughters Paulina and Giana drove 14 hours from New York to Kentucky and arrived Thursday night.

“There’s only one chance for every 3-year-old,” John Terranova said. “To get all the way through the winter and to get to this point, I feel bad for our whole team.”

El Kabeir is owned by Ahmed Zayat, who still has two other horses in the race, including race favorite American Pharoah.

El Kabeir spent the entire winter at Belmont Park, dealing several times with ice- and/or snow-covered paths from the barn to the track. Still, he was healthy enough to run four times, winning the Grade 3 Jerome in January and Grade 3 Gotham in March. He finished second in the Grade 2 Withers in February and third in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial in April.

“We got a really good colt on our hands,” Terranova said. “We’re going to take care of him. He’ll be back.”

Terranova did not say what the immediate plans would be for El Kabeir, whether he would remain in Kentucky for a while or be returned to New York.

“We’ll let everything settle down the next few days,” Terranova said.

With the scratch of El Kabeir, there will be 19 horses in the Kentucky Derby. El Kabeir was drawn in post 7. The six horses that were drawn inside of him will move out one spot, which means the rail post will be left open.