After finally getting a chance to see McKinzie for the first time in a week, assessing his status, and looking at the calendar, trainer Bob Baffert on Monday morning at Santa Anita said it was “not looking good” for McKinzie to make the Kentucky Derby on May 5 at Churchill Downs, a race in which he would have been one of the favorites.

McKinzie was scheduled to have his final prep for the Derby in the Santa Anita Derby this Saturday, but he was declared out of the race over the weekend with an injury that Baffert is still trying to diagnose with specificity. But he said that out of an abundance of caution, he was “not going to do anything rash” in terms of trying to train McKinzie – via jogs or gallops -- or even work him. McKinzie did not go to the track on Monday to even jog, and Baffert had no timetable on when he’d be able to resume training, saying he’s taking things “day by day.”

“We’ve got to do more tests,” said Baffert, who returned from Dubai on Sunday afternoon. “He’s sound, but a nuclear scan we did wasn’t 100 percent. It doesn’t look serious, but we’ve got to wait. His X-rays are clean. But he tweaked something."

More in a bit at www.drf.com