Vets scratch 21 horses at Santa Anita, Aqueduct, Keeneland
Lexington, Ky.
On a big stakes day highlighted by climactic Kentucky Derby preps, there were no fewer than 21 veterinarian scratches reported Saturday at Aqueduct, Keeneland and Santa Anita.
All but two of the horses removed by regulatory and private doctors came out of non-stakes races. Love Appeals, the 3-1 second choice in the Grade 3 Monrovia at Santa Anita, and Lucille Ball, a long shot who was taken out of the Grade 3 Distaff (G3) by a regulatory doctor at Aqueduct, were the exceptions.
Guide to major Kentucky Derby 2026 preps.
Elliott Walden, the outgoing CEO and former president of WinStar Farm, criticized Kentucky’s chief racing veterinarian Dr. Nick Smith after 4-year-old John Hancock was removed at Keeneland from the seven-furlong fifth race, a $130,000 allowance race for non-winners of two. Unraced since March 2025 for CHC and WinStar, the three-time starter was reported to have been “unsound,” according to Saturday’s scratch list on Equibase.
“So Nick Smith and his team scratched John Hancock this morning after looking at him for 30 minutes and (for) multiple jogs, because it was not obvious to them,” Walden wrote on X. “He has not run in 365-plus days, passed the vet test in Florida to run two weeks ago and passed the blood test.”
Walden went on to challenge Kentucky regulators to explain the number of horses their veterinarians have scratched.
“Kentucky’s average catastrophic breakdown (rate) in 2025 was 1.24 per 1,000 starts. (The) national average was 1.04 per 1,000 for (a) 17% improvement over Kentucky. If Nick Smith and his team are doing such a great job, then why is the breakdown rate higher in Kentucky when he scratches twice as many horses?”
Smith did not respond to a text request from Horse Racing Nation for comment on the four scratches that came Saturday on his watch.
Three of the 10 vet scratches at Aqueduct came under the direction of the New York State Gaming Commission. Dr. Scott Palmer, the NYSGC’s chief racing veterinarian, also did not comment.
Santa Anita did not specify regulatory and private decisions for its three scratches.
“I don’t know the background regarding all of those scratches,” California’s top state racing vet Dr. Jeff Blea said. “However, I do have confidence in the system.”
Smith, Palmer and Blea are charged not only with carrying out rules and policies set by their state commissions but also the federal regulations of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.
“HISA has no involvement in the vet scratches,” CEO Lisa Lazarus said in a text response Saturday. “Those are solely under the authority of the state racing commissions (and) regulatory vets.”
Vet scratches attracted higher awareness the last two years at the Breeders’ Cup. Regulatory doctors in California removed 13 horses from the 2024 championships at Santa Anita and the same number last year at Del Mar. White Abarrio’s scratch during the post parade for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile became a flashpoint.
There may have been no bigger vet scratch than when Smith took Forte out of the 2023 Kentucky Derby because of a right-foot injury. The futures and morning-line favorite was removed only 11 hours before the race. Owner Mike Repole called Smith’s team “overly cautious.” Five weeks later Forte finished second in the Belmont Stakes. He added a win that summer in the Jim Dandy (G2) and a fourth in the Travers (G1) before being retired.
The same connections were impacted last year when Smith’s team scratched Grande from the Derby because of a foot bruise. Repole said he was “shocked and confused,” but Grande did not race again for nine more months. He came back for Pletcher to win an allowance race and then the Ghostzapper (G3) last week at Gulfstream Park.
Owners and trainers sometimes take the pre-emptory step of removing a horse before a state doctor steps in. That way they avoid landing on the vets’ list, temporarily taking flagged horses out of racing and training.