Robusta Replaces Right To Party Horse in Kentucky Derby Gate
Right to party horse was scratched from the GI Kentucky Derby on Friday morning by state regulatory veterinarians, and Robusta will take his place in the Churchill Downs starting gate on Saturday. The late change alters the Derby field one day before the race and leaves trainer Kenny McPeek arguing against the pace and pattern of Kentucky veterinary scratches.
McPeek’s Derby turn
McPeek said he was upset with the scratch and the timing. He said veterinarians had asked earlier in the week for Right To Party to be X-rayed, then asked for a PET scan, and he provided the TDN a copy of the scan results.
The PET scan comments said there was no contraindication to racing based on the current 18F-NaF PET scans. McPeek said, “I thought after the X-ray and the scan, we were fine.”
Right To Party and Robusta
Right To Party came into the Derby as the runner-up in the GII Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct. Robusta now fills that spot in the Churchill Downs gate, turning what had been a Derby entry for McPeek into a last-day lineup change.
McPeek also said, “They said he [Right to Party] was lame all week.” He added, “Why didn't they call it before everyone got here? I feel bad for Mr. [owner Chester] Broman. This horse has never been medicated, injected, had a surgery. Look, is he a perfect jogger? No, but he's certainly not a risk of catastrophic breakdown. Shouldn't be that be the question? He's a grinder, he's a plodder, he keeps coming, but this is a whole other era that we're in that a lot of horsemen don't understand it. And it's only Kentucky.”
Kentucky’s vet scratches
The scratch also fit into McPeek’s broader criticism of regulatory vet decisions in Kentucky. He said, “They don't like the way he moves. I didn't make the way he moves, but he's been steady. he just goes out there and grinds it out I think the state has to address this at some point. We're not dealing with this in New York. This type of extreme doesn't exist in Florida, or Louisiana. Only Kentucky.”
He said, “They're scratched 11 horses the last day of the Keeneland meet” and, “One day earlier in the meet, they scratched 10.” McPeek, who won the 2024 Kentucky Derby with Mystik Dan, said, “I'm not optimistic.”
