MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm's multiple graded stakes-winning 3-year-old Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah), who retreated to finish last as the favorite in Saturday's GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby, will be taken off the GI Kentucky Derby trail with an epiglottis issue, trainer Richard Mandella told Horse Racing Nation Sunday.
“We are going to look under his epiglottis to see if he has an ulcer,” Mandella said. “But no Derby for sure.”
A runner-up in the GIII Bob Hope S. last fall at Del Mar, Forbidden Kingdom announced himself as a Derby contender with impressive victories in both the GIII San Vicente S. and GII San Felipe S. this winter at Santa Anita. He set the early pace in the Santa Anita Derby, but abruptly threw in the towel on the far turn.
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