Rodriguez, a late Kentucky Derby (G1) scratch with a minor foot bruise, will also miss the 150th Preakness Stakes (G1), Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said Friday (May 9).
Winner of the Wood Memorial (G2) on April 5, Rodriguez will now be pointed to the Belmont Stakes (G1), the final leg of the Triple Crown on June 7 at Saratoga Race Course.
“He’ll be perfect for the Belmont,” Baffert told drf.com, “I couldn’t prep him like I wanted to (for the Preakness). Once he had the foot issue, you've got to let those things simmer down. I didn’t have enough time.”
A day earlier, Baffert notified Maryland Jockey Club officials that he planned to enter Goal Oriented in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness.
Rodriguez was scratched a week before the May 3 Derby and had remained at Churchill Downs, hoping he would be ready for the Preakness.
Baffert also said that Goal Oriented’s Preakness status would depend on the unbeaten (2-0) colt’s workout over the weekend.
The Not This Time colt won an optional claiming allowance race on the Derby Day undercard.
“We’re going to see how he works,” Baffert said after Goal Oriented returned from a routine gallop on Friday morning. “I’ve always had (the Preakness) in the back of my mind, maybe. But after what I’ve seen, the way he came out of the race, he’s a big, strong horse that looks like he could handle it.”
Flavien Prat, who was aboard for the allowance win at Churchill Downs, would ride Goal Oriented in the Preakness.
Derby runner-up Journalism is still a question mark for the Preakness, with trainer Michael McCarthy to oversee his Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner gallop at Churchill Downs on Sunday. A final decision may not come until entry day on Monday.
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