Maximum Security's scratch opens up division, Pa. Derby

The defection from Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby of morning-line favorite Maximum Security due to colic not only makes that race more wide open, but it would seem to also open up the race for 3-year-old male champion.

War of Will, the Preakness winner, could potentially get back in the conversation for divisional honors were he able to win the Pennsylvania Derby, the headliner on a 13-race card at Parx. But even his trainer, Mark Casse, goes into Saturday’s race with some trepidation following next-to-last finishes in both the Belmont Stakes and Jim Dandy.

“I’d be lying if said that I’m as confident as I once was just simply because his last two races have been a bit of a head-scratcher,” Casse said Wednesday.

Casse believes that War of Will simply didn’t like the Belmont Park surface when he finished 7 1/4 lengths behind stablemate Sir Winston in the Belmont Stakes. The Jim Dandy at Saratoga, Casse said, was more baffling because he felt War of Will had been training brilliantly over the track and simply did not fire.

As a result, Casse has changed things up on War of Will entering the Pennsylvania Derby. The horse will now be equipped with glue-on shoes, as opposed to steel plates. Also, he will wear a figure-eight bridle for the first time in a race. His string of four straight bullet workouts – two at Saratoga and two at Belmont Park – have been with those shoes and that equipment.

“He tends to run with his mouth wide open; we want to keep it closed,” Casse said. “You’re always trying to tweak a little, just trying to figure out something that can help.”

War of Will began his 3-year-old season with three consecutive victories, including the Grade 3 Lecomte and Grade 2 Risen Star at Fair Grounds. He then finished ninth in the Louisiana Derby there. In the Kentucky Derby, he raced a bit rank while trapped on the inside. He attempted to come off the rail at the same time that Maximum Security shied from something and came off the rail, impeding War of Will.

War of Will and Tyler Gaffalione regained their footing and ran with Maximum Security until the eighth pole, where he gave way and finished eighth. War of Will was placed seventh when the stewards disqualified Maximum Security from first and placed him 17th.

Two weeks later, War of Will won the Preakness, a race Maximum Security sat out.

The Pennsylvania Derby was to have been the first meeting between Maximum Security and War of Will since the Derby.

But on Tuesday, trainer Jason Servis announced that Maximum Security would have to scratch from the Pennsylvania Derby after experiencing a severe bout of colic that required him to be shipped to the Mid-Atlantic Equine Clinic in Ringoes, N.J., where he was diagnosed and treated by Dr. Janik Gasiorowski.

Servis said Maximum Security had “spasmodic colic with left displacement of the large colon,” according to the paperwork he was given by the clinic.

“His colon was being pinched off by his spleen. He wasn’t [producing] any bowel movements,” Servis said.

Servis said that Maximum Security had fluid pumped from his stomach.

Servis does not have a timetable for Maximum Security’s return to training. Owner Gary West told The Paulick Report on Monday that he planned to run Maximum Security as a 4-year-old in 2020.

While not totally ruling it out, Servis indicated that a start in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 2 is unlikely as he would not have time to get a proper prep race into Maximum Security. Given Maximum Security’s success at Gulfstream Park – he went 4 for 4 there last winter including a victory in the Grade 1 Florida Derby – the $9 million Pegasus on Jan. 25 could become the next major target.

“He won’t train until he’s feeling good [and] you could see some signs of life,” Servis said. “He went through a lot.”

Casse, who expressed empathy for the connections of Maximum Security, said a rematch between War of Will and Maximum Security “would have been nice for horse racing.”

Maximum Security’s scratch leaves a six-horse field for the Pennsylvania Derby with Improbable, winner of the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar, and Mr. Money, winner of four straight Grade 3 stakes, likely vying for favoritism.

Others entered include Math Wizard, Spun to Run, and Shanghai Superfly.