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The field for the 151th edition of the Kentucky derby It was reduced to 19 on Friday after two horses were scratched with potential complications, including a foal trained by the legendary coach Bob Baffert.
Rodríguez, the winner of Wood Memorial, was scratched on Thursday due to a bruised foot and instead will be marginalized to the second section of the Triple crown, Preakness is at stake on May 17.
Kentucky Derby participant, Rodríguez, works at Churchill Downs on Thursday, May 1, 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo AP/Charlie Riedel)
“As a precaution, we have made a very difficult decision to scratch our Derby horse, Rodríguez,” Tom Ryan de Starlight Racing confirmed, one of the multiple owners of Colt, in an X post.
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“It has a small but slightly sensitive foot bruise that will need a few more days. Therefore, we are restoring our plans and attack it for the preakness.”
Rodríguez was one of the two horses trained by Baffert competing in the Kentucky derby on Saturday. The coach of the Hall of Fame will return to Churchill Downs for the first time from the victory of Kentucky Derby by Medina Spirit in 2021, a title that was later stripped due to a positive drug test that resulted in a three -year suspension for Baffert.
Coach Bob Baffert raises the trophy after winning the 147th Kentucky derby race with Medina Spirit, his seventh victory in Kentucky Derby’s career, in Churchill Downs on May 1, 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Andy Lyons/Getty images)
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“It was an honest mistake,” Baffert said in a sitting interview with “Fox and friends” Friday morning. “The test levels are so low … I was in an ointment, and we did not realize up to approximately 48 hours that it was used humanly, it had a horribly skin eruption.”
“We were fighting for the horse,” Baffert said about the legal battle that occurred after Medina Spirit’s title was stripped. He said the consequences were never the denial of positive drug test. “He won that victory.”
John Velázquez, riding Medina Spirit, crosses the finish line to win the 147 Kentucky derby in Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 1, 2021, file photo. (Photo AP/Jeff Roberson, Archive)
Baffert will still have a horse in the race, since he looks for a seventh record victory in the Kentucky derby, a record that he briefly held in 2021. Citizen Bull, a two -year -old foal, drew the dreaded number 1 for Saturday’s race.
Baeza entered the field of 20 horses instead of Rodríguez, but the field was reduced to 19 after Grande also scratched on Friday with a cracked heel.
