Kentucky Derby field stays intact; also-eligible Mugatu doesn't get in

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Jeff Engler sat outside the stall of his 3-year-old Mugatu checking his phone for a text or a call or a social media post that would tell him his horse could run in the Kentucky Derby.

It never came.

Mugatu needed one scratch to make it into the field for Saturday’s 150th Kentucky Derby. But following morning training Friday and the required veterinarian examinations, there were no horses scratched by 9 a.m. Friday, the deadline for horses on the also-eligible list to get into a race.

The only horse scratched from the Derby was Encino, and that occurred on Tuesday, allowing Epic Ride to run.

Barring a veterinarian-mandated scratch Saturday morning - and yes, Derby favorite Forte was scratched the morning of the race last year -the field will go postward with 20 horses.

Last year, five of the 23 horses entered in the Derby were scratched.

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Mugatu, fifth in the Blue Grass Stakes, will be rerouted to the Peter Pan Stakes at Aqueduct on May 11, Engler said.

“Real disappointed,” Engler said. “We’ve been wanting a mile and a quarter for a long time. Hopefully, he’ll run good in the Peter Pan and go to the Belmont, which I think he will.”

The horse seemingly under the most scrutiny from state and track veterinarians this week was Honor Marie, who won the Kentucky Jockey Club here at 2. Honor Marie is coming off a runner-up finish in the Louisiana Derby.

Whit Beckman, the trainer of Honor Marie, admits his horse isn’t the smoothest mover, but the horse is completely sound. Beckman said he voluntarily had a bone scan done on Honor Marie this week and he said the veterinarians are happy with his physical condition.

“My horse’s baseline might have been a little different from what we think about when we think about one jogging, but we’ve done everything we’re supposed to do and we’re good to go,” Beckman said. “I’m so relieved, now I can enjoy the rest of the day and we can look forward to running tomorrow. I love how he’s doing.”

Overnight and morning rains created a sloppy track for Friday’s training sessions and the Kentucky Oaks card. With the exception of Dornoch and Grand Mo the First, who walked the shed row, all the other Kentucky Derby starters went to the track to gallop or jog.

Fierceness, the Kentucky Derby favorite, was the first one to gallop at 7:45 a.m. after the track reopened following a harrow break.

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Though he expects track conditions to be better tomorrow, Todd Pletcher, the trainer of Fierceness, thought his horse got over the sloppy surface well.

“He seemed to handle it fine, it was just a routine gallop,” Pletcher said. “He’s normally a laid-back galloper anyway, he got over the track fine. The main thing is we wanted to get out there safely and soundly. You always worry about when conditions are like that, they get a little fired up but he handled it well.”

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