Nicanor out of Virginia Derby

Nicanor, the full brother to Barbaro and the 7-2 morning-line favorite for the $750,000 Virginia Derby on Saturday at Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va., was scratched from the race Friday after suffering an unspecified injury to his hind end the previous afternoon.

"We took him out of his stall to walk him and graze him, and he was very stiff in behind," trainer Michael Matz said from his Fair Hill training center headquarters. "I don't know if it's anything serious or long-term. Nothing turned up on X-rays, so we sent him to New Bolton to have a nuclear scintigraphy done on him to see if something can be found."

Nicanor was coming off back-to-back turf wins at Delaware Park and was scheduled to make his stakes debut in the Grade 2 Virginia Derby.

"It's disappointing because we were all very much looking forward to going down there to watch him," Matz said. "But we certainly wouldn't take any chances, so we'll just have to get him right and look forward to something else down the line."

The defection of Nicanor left a field of nine 3-year-olds in the Virginia Derby.