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Just days after losing the Preakness Stakes, Nyquist has been scratched from the Belmont Stakes race due to health complications, TMZ reports.
Already dealing with a fever, a new complication arose that caused Nyquist’s trainers to pull the plug.
“We spoke with Nyquist’s assistant trainer, Jack Sisterson, who tells us … Nyquist has an elevated white blood cell count, which can sometimes indicate an infection,” TMZ writes.
Infections are nothing to mess around with, especially when potentially millions of dollars are on the line. Nyquist will fetch a pretty penny after his racing career as a stud horse. Still, it’s all about the horse’s health right now.
“We just want to do right by Nyquist right now. We want to make sure he’ll be back to 100% in the next few days,” Sisterson said.
One wonders if this decision would have been so quickly made if Nyquist had managed to hold off Exaggerator and Cherry Wine three days ago. Now that the Triple Crown is out of reach, it’s an easy call to keep the horse out of the upcoming Belmont, which is the longest of the three Triple-Crown races.
Racing fans will be excited to know Nyquist is expected to be back on the track this summer, per the report.