Mr. Buff scratched from Excelsior after signs of colic

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Mr. Buff, the 4-5 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior Stakes at Aqueduct, was scratched from that race after showing signs of colic Saturday morning, trainer John Kimmel said.

“This horse has a tendency to bleed, and the way we’ve tried to control the problem is we limit the amount of water he gets after midnight and also limit the amount of hay he gets,” Kimmel said. “He’s been fine with that. Maybe he ate some shavings or something like that and he was a little uncomfortable and he started to break out [sweat] and he needed to be treated.”

Beginning in 2021, horses competing in stakes races in New York have not been permitted to race on the anti-bleeding medication Lasix.

Kimmel said upon being treated Saturday with antibiotics, Mr. Buff was fine “in a half an hour.”

About the scratch, Kimmel said “I’m sick to my stomach about it. “I thought he was so good going into today’s race that he was going to do something he hadn’t been able to do before – win a graded stake race.”

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Mr. Buff, an 11-time stakes winner who has earned $1.3 million, is 7 for 8 in stakes at 1 1/8-miles at Aqueduct, the configuration of the Excelsior. Mr. Buff was winless in six tries in graded stakes.

The scratch of Mr. Buff leaves a field of six for the Excelsior, with Modernist or Limonite perhaps vying for favoritism.

Kimmel said he would try and point Mr. Buff to the Grade 3, $200,000 Westchester on May 1 at Belmont.