No Sprint for Kodiak Kowboy

ARCADIA, Calif. - Kodiak Kowboy, winner of the Grade 1 Vosburgh in his last start, has been taken out of consideration for the Breeders' Cup Sprint. The decision came just hours after Kodiak Kowboy had worked a slow half-mile in 52.54 at Santa Anita on Monday.

Kodiak Kowboy was scoped following his workout on Monday and was discovered to have some mucus in his lungs, said Tom Ludt, general manager of the Vinery, which owns Kodiak Kowboy in partnership with Tom Porter's Fox Hill Farm.

"We were concerned something might not be right after he breezed so slowly this morning," Ludt explained. "So we had him scoped, discovered the mucus and had him treated. This way we can still make the Cigar Mile if all goes well."

Despite having won two Grade 1 races this year, Kodiak Kowboy was a question mark in the Sprint because he had run only three times over a synthetic surface, and not since April 2008.

"We waffled a bit before making a decision to send him here, which makes this all the more disappointing since he made the trip out from New York and we've already paid the pre-entry fee," said Ludt. "We could have been aggressive and still tried to run him, but our first obligation is for the well-being of the horse."

Pre-entrants out of Breeders' Cup:

* Sweet Hearth - Dirt Mile / F&M Sprint

* Yankee Injunuity - Turf Sprint

* Oasis Dancer - Juvenile Turf

* Dave in Dixie - Juvenile

* Allicansayis Wow - F&M Sprint

* Kodiak Kowboy - Sprint