Mentee scratched from Sanford with fever

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mentee, the morning-line favorite for Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga, had to scratch from the race due to a fever, his connections reported Saturday morning.

Owner Mike Repole sent out a tweet that said Mentee had a temperature of 102.2, well above a horse’s normal temperature. Trainer Todd Pletcher said later in the morning that Mentee left some feed last night “which is not typical of him,” he said.

Pletcher said he and his staff managed Mentee’s temperature for a little while Saturday morning “but it wasn’t going the right way,” he said and the horse was put on antibiotics.

How fast Mentee responds from the fever will play a role in whether he could make the second stakes for 2-year-olds here, the Grade 2, $200,000 Saratoga Special on Aug. 10.

Mentee, a full brother to last year’s juvenile champion Fierceness, was the 6-5 morning-line favorite for the Sanford based on his narrow maiden victory over Colloquial at Aqueduct on June 15, in which he set a track record for five furlongs (56.97 seconds).

Mentee’s scratch leaves a seven-horse field for the Sanford where Studlydoright, winner of the Tremont Stakes here on June 7, Three Echoes, third in the Tremont and Mo Plex, a 10-length debut winner against New York-breds figure to be the top three choices.

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