Maxfield will scratch from Breeders' Cup Juvenile

ARCADIA, Calif. – Less than 24 hours after he was entered in Friday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Maxfield was forced out of the race due to an unspecified issue with his right front leg, trainer Brendan Walsh said Tuesday.

“He’s off in front, and we’re going to do some diagnostic work at some point to see what it is,” Walsh said Tuesday outside his barn at Santa Anita. “We don’t think it’s anything serious, and if it is I think we caught it at an early stage where we can deal with it. It’s disappointing, but it’s the right thing to do by him. He’s ahead of what we even expected him to do already this year.”

Maxfield came out to train about 8 a.m. Tuesday. He jogged once around the wrong way to the finish line. When it appeared he was going to gallop, his connections called an audible and the exercise rider just rode him back to the barn.

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“There’s nothing obvious there, we’re hoping it’s just a foot, maybe an abscess,” Walsh said. “He’s not right today.”

Maxfield was one of the top contenders in the Juvenile after winning his first two starts, including a dominant 5 1/2-length victory in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity on Oct. 5 at Keeneland. Maxfield is a son of 2006 Juvenile and 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense and is owned by Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing.

“The stage is too big, he’s too good, [scratching] is the right thing to do,” said Jimmy Bell, president of Godolphin’s USA division. “It’s hard, but it’s easy.”

Maxfield drew post 9 and was the third choice at 3-1 on the morning line behind Dennis’ Moment and Eight Rings (2-1). Maxfield’s defection reduces the field for the Juvenile to eight.

Bob Baffert, trainer of Eight Rings, is familiar with scratching a horse out of the Juvenile the day after entries are made. In 2014, he was forced to scratch American Pharoah out of the race.

“You feel for the connections,” Baffert said. “It’s so hard to get here and then when you have a really good one like that . . . I hope it’s minor.”

Dale Romans, trainer of Dennis’ Moment, said Maxfield’s scratch “changes everything. I thought he was the horse to beat. I feel for awful for Brendan.”