King Guillermo, the colt owned by former major league All-Star Victor Martinez, is a scratch for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
The horse came down with a fever Wednesday, leading to Thursday’s announcement.
“To race in a race like the Derby we need him at 100 percent,” Avila said in a statement. “We aren’t going to be able to demonstrate how good he is like this. I think we are going to have plenty of time to show his quality. He’s going to be a great horse and everybody knows we have to take care of the horse first. The next step is to try to get him ready for the Preakness and go from there.”
King Guillermo won the Tampa Bay Derby.
“The sad part is that Juan said yesterday was his best day here,” Martinez said. “When we left the track in the morning following training and came back in the afternoon for feed time, we discovered he had a fever. It’s just the sad part about this game.”
The derby field now has 17 horses.