Ky. Derby: Practical Move is scratched, Cyclone Mischief is in

Louisville, Ky.

After Practical Move left his oats alone Thursday morning, trainer Tim Yakteen knew something was wrong.

“He didn’t dive into the feed tub, and that caused us to be suspicious,” Yakteen told Horse Racing Nation on Thursday afternoon. “We temp our horses daily, morning and night. We found out he has a low-grade temperature that is migrating higher.”

The fever led Yakteen to scratch the Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner from Kentucky Derby 2023 on Saturday at Churchill Downs.

That opened the gate for Cyclone Mischief, who finished third last month in the Florida Derby (G1), to draw into the field in post 20.

“I was training like we were running, and we’re running,” said Romans, who still was not sure who would ride the Into Mischief colt.

The news was reported first by Louisville TV station WAVE.

At first everything looked fine with Practical Move after exercise rider Baltazar Contreras galloped him 1 3/8 miles around the main track Thursday.

By mid-morning, though, Yakteen noticed that the colt owned by Leslie and Pierre Amistoy and Roger Beasley did not have his normal appetite. After the temperature check, Yakteen did not hesitate to hit the brakes.

“You can’t go into this race less than 100 percent,” he said. “We are comforted that we are doing the right thing for the horse. You aren’t going to do any good when you’re not 100 percent.”

Even if Practical Move gets back to a normal temperature sooner rather than later, Yakteen all but ruled out a run in the Preakness on May 20 in Baltimore.

“I’m not going to rule it out, but I would say it would be a long shot,” he said. “I need to see how he responds, but 16 days away from the Preakness, I would say we’re behind the 8 ball to make that.”

Never having raced more than 1 1/8 miles, Yakteen ruled out racing next in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes on June 10.

“We won’t look at that,” he said.

For now, Yakteen will continue to prepare Bob Baffert transfer Reincarnate for the Derby. His team will work right away to get Practical Move healthy again.

“We’ll put him on antibiotics and move forward with that,” Yakteen said. “We’ll run a blood (test) and continue to monitor how he’s doing. Hopefully he’ll just respond to antibiotics, and we’ll get it behind us and regroup.”

Practical Move’s exit meant Santa Anita Derby runner-up Mandarin Hero, a Japan-based colt, moved to the top of the waiting list in case one more horse were to be scratched from the main field before Friday’s 9 a.m. EDT deadline. Mandarin Hero has been training at Churchill Downs this week just in case.