Pimlico: Mr Phil, Scarabea among Preakness card scratches
BALTIMORE – While all was quiet on the Preakness front Saturday morning, Mr Phil and Scarabea, were among the key scratches out of stakes on the undercard Saturday at Pimlico.
Mr Phil, the co-second choice at 3-1 and one of the bevy of speed horses in the six-furlong Maryland Sprint, scratched to run in an allowance race Sunday at Belmont Park, according to trainer Rob Atras.
The scratch of Mr Phil leaves a field of six in the Maryland Sprint with Disco Pharoah (5-2) and Jaxon Traveler (3-1) expected to be among the public choices.
The Maryland Sprint is carded as race 4 and goes postward at 12:16 p.m.
Scarabea, the 6-1 fourth choice on the morning line for the Grade 3 Gallorette (race 5), never shipped from Kentucky due to a temperature, according to her trainer, Jack Sisterson. Scarabea was coming off a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland.
In the $100,000 Skipat Stakes (race 7) for fillies and mares sprinting on dirt, Kaylasaurus (4-1 morning line) and Cheetara (10-1) are out, reducing that to an eight-horse field.
Three horses – Wow Whata Summer, Riot House, and World of Fools – are out of the $100,000 James Murphy (race 10), a turf race for 3-year-olds.
In the $100,000 Sir Barton (race 11), The Addison Pour and Brooklyn Diamonds have been scratched from the 1 1/16-mile dirt race for 3-year-olds.
Lastly, Concrete Glory is out of the Jim McKay Turf Sprint (race 12).
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Conditions should be fast and firm for Saturday’s card, which begins at 10:30 a.m., with the Preakness slated for 7:01 p.m.
Temperatures are forecast for the mid-90s.