Forbidden Kingdom back training after coming down with fever

ARCADIA, Calif. – Forbidden Kingdom went back to the track Monday at Santa Anita, none the worse after a fever interrupted his training and forced him to miss a workout last week.

Runaway winner of the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 5 and the leading California prospect for the Kentucky Derby, Forbidden Kingdom galloped a mile and one-eighth at 7 a.m. for trainer Richard Mandella.

“He acts like nothing ever happened,” Mandella said, downplaying the relevance of the March 18 missed work. The trainer suggested Forbidden Kingdom is not compromised.

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“All it means I missed the first little short work I was going to do,” Mandella said.

Adding a little humor, Mandella said: “I’m not saying it is insignificant, but it might help my training, not hurt it. This is actually a good thing. He got a little bit sick, vaccinated himself, so through the spring I’m going to be all set.”

Forbidden Kingdom won the Grade 2, seven-furlong San Vicente Stakes in January, then stretched to a mile and a sixteenth to win the San Felipe by five and three-quarter lengths. His missed workout would have been his first since the San Felipe.

The colt is scheduled for his next start on April 9 in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby. “I’ve got time for two good works,” Mandella said.

Forbidden Kingdom came down with a fever March 17, missed his workout March 18 and did not train while the fever subsided. Forbidden Kingdom walked on March 19, was ridden under tack at the barn on March 20 and returned to the track on Monday.

“If he ain’t ready by now, he ain’t ever going to be ready,” Mandella said.

Plans call for Forbidden Kingdom to resume his normal gallop routine of a mile and one-half on Tuesday and work later this week.

Forbidden Kingdom has won three races and $434,000 from five starts, all for owners MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm. Juan Hernandez has ridden Forbidden Kingdom in all five starts.