BALTIMORE — Preakness favorite Muth has been ruled out of the race after spiking a fever, removing a horse trained by Bob Baffert and potentially giving Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan a clearer path through the second leg of the Triple Crown.
The Maryland Jockey Club announced Muth's status change Wednesday morning, roughly 12 hours after the horse arrived at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.
Baffert said Muth's temperature reached 103 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) and the camp had no choice but to scratch him. «We are sick about this.
The horse had been doing really well,» Baffert said. «But we have to do what's right by the horse.» Muth was one of two horses entered for Baffert, a Hall of Famer and two-time winner of the Triple Crown who is still expected to saddle Imagination as part of what's now a field of eight.