Wood Memorial winner Toby's Corner has been withdrawn from Kentucky Derby consideration because of lameness in his left hind leg. His defection creates room for Lexington Stakes winner Derby Kitten to enter the field.
Late Monday morning, trainer Graham Motion detected that Toby's Corner was off in his left hind leg. He was sent to New Bolton center for diagnosis. The tests are inconclusive to this point, but Toby's Corner's leg had not improved on Tuesday.
Toby's Corner's road to the Derby had been chronicled by ST Publishing, who broke the news of the Toby's Corner story.
"After what was a perfect work on Sunday, we weren't 100-percent happy with him yesterday," Motion told ST Publishing. "He had a lameness in his left hind, we had him looked at here and then we sent him to New Bolton. At this point, there's nothing obvious that's causing the lameness. We had to make a decision as to whether he could get on a van for Kentucky this morning and obviously he couldn't."
Toby's Corner had worked 6 furlongs in 1:15 on Sunday morning over the Tapeta surface at Fair Hill training center in Maryland, and everything went fine. It was only Monday morning that Motion and his staff noticed that something was amiss.
"I feel for the Cotters and these guys in the barn," said Motion. "Everyone has done a great job with the horse. They believe in the horse, they've done the work. It's hard for everybody. Today's a tough day."
More details will be coming soon.
