Mr. Fantasy out of Met Mile

Mr. Fantasy, the Grade 3 Withers winner, has been scratched out of Monday's Grade 1 Shadwell Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park due to a temperature, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Sunday. Mr. Fantasy, one of two 3-year-olds entered in the race, will now try to make the Grade 2 Woody Stephens on June 6, McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin said Mr. Fantasy "wasn't acting quite right on the racetrack" Saturday morning and came back from his training session with a temperature of 102.

"He didn't have a good day," said McLaughlin, who trains Mr. Fantasy for West Point Thoroughbreds, a syndicate headed by Terry Finley. "We decided to take him out [of the race]. Hopefully, it's not a big enough issue where we have to miss the Woody Stephens. We'll point that way and hope for the best."

The scratch of Mr. Fantasy reduces the Met Mile field to 12 and takes one of the primary speed horses out of the race.

Mr. Fantasy has won 3 of 4 starts, highlighted by his 1 3/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Withers on April 25. That leaves Gotham runner-up Imperial Council as the lone 3-year-old in the field.