Star three-year-olds Game Winner and Maximum Security to miss Travers Stakes

Maximum Security, the horse who created headlines when disqualified in the Kentucky Derby after finishing first past the post, and Game Winner, last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner, have both been ruled out of the Travers Stakes at Saratoga on August 24.

Game Winner, trained by Bob Baffert in California, will miss the $1.25 million Midsummer Derby after developing a virus, while Maximum Security was deemed not to be "100 per cent right" by trainer Jason Servis after his win in the Haskell Invitational Stakes last month. Both colts are owned by Gary and Mary West.

Baffert said on Thursday: "We're still absorbing the disappointment. He's going to be fine, but it's the timing.

"He worked great but today he had a little temperature. There's been a little virus going through the barn. He was my second one this week."

Servis said he would target the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing next month with Maximum Security.

"I don't like where he's at. He's not eating the way I want him to eat, and he's not carrying the weight I'd like to see him carry," said Servis. "I just want to make sure he's 100 per cent for his next race, and he's not there right now.

"The best thing is to wait until he is 100 per cent and point to the Pennsylvania Derby. With Game Winner out, if Maximum Security was 100 per cent, I'd go to the Travers. But he's just not back to where he was.

"I'll probably give him a week off, and that still gives me more than four weeks until the Pennsylvania Derby. I'm fortunate to have patient owners in the Wests, who will allow me to take a step back if I don't feel the horse is 100 per cent.

"It’s easy to run, but if I ran him when he wasn't 100 per cent, you come out of the race saying to yourself, 'What was I thinking?'"

Since the virus is not expected to sideline Game Winner for a long time, he could also emerge as a candidate for the Pennsylvania Derby, putting the Wests in a position of deciding whether they want to run both of their horses.

"Game Winner will miss the Travers and he will return to racing when he's 100 per cent," Gary West said. "I am disappointed that neither horse can run in the Travers but the wellbeing of our horses comes first; always has and always will.

"The decision on the Pennsylvania Derby is too far away to make any intelligent comments at this time. They will run when they are ready and not a minute before."

Bloodhorse.com: for all the latest news from America