BALTIMORE -- The Cliff's Edge was scratched from the Preakness with a sore right front foot, reducing the field to 10 for Saturday's race.
Trainer Nick Zito made the decision Friday after his horse showed no improvement from an abscess that developed following the Kentucky Derby.
"We're doing everything we possible can," Zito said. "We pulled the shoes now because he's not going to make the race. That will relieve him and we'll see what happens after that."
Zito said the injury most likely stemmed from the Derby, when The Cliff's Edge finished fifth and lost his two front shoes in the Churchill Downs slop.
Zito still has Sir Shackleton in the Preakness. The horse has won three of four starts, including the Derby Trial.
The absence of The Cliff's Edge could prove beneficial for Lion Heart, considered one of the top threats to Smarty Jones' bid to win the second leg of the Triple Crown.
Lion Heart took control of the Derby at the outset, then gamely galloped through the muck before Smarty Jones charged to victory by less than three lengths.
The oddsmakers have made Smarty Jones the 8-5 favorite, and Lion Heart trainer Patrick Biancone readily acknowledges his role as the underdog.
"Each race is like a football game," Biancone said. "You know who is favored, you know who is the challenger, and sometimes the challenger beats the favorite."
That didn't happen in the Derby. It was the third straight runner-up finish for Lion Heart, and Biancone can't guarantee the streak will end in the Preakness.
"I've never said I think he's going to win this time. I said we're the challenger, and we're going to try to beat the other horses, that's all," he said.
Smarty Jones is the first undefeated Kentucky Derby winner since Seattle Slew in 1977.
"We're going to try to win," Biancone said. "But I'm a very objective person, and I know it's going to be very difficult to beat Smarty Jones. But we, as the challenger, are going to try to do so. If we do it, well done. If we cannot, we cannot. You cannot punish your horse because another one is better than him."
Biancone picked the No. 1 post because his horse loves to break to the front early. The question is: If that happens, can Lion Heart hold the lead this time?
Not if Smarty Jones can help it.
"We have Lion Heart inside us," Smarty Jones trainer John Servis said. "He's going to show early speed I'm sure, and we'll sit just off of him and try to gain control of the race."
Lion Heart isn't the only horse in the field to finish second to Smarty Jones. Borrego was runner-up in the Arkansas Derby, closing fast but coming up short by 1? lengths.
Borrego finished 10th in the Derby, 16? lengths off the pace, but trainer C. Beau Greely believes that race wasn't indicative of the difference between the two horses.
"Smarty Jones is a very nice horse," Greely said. "I'm not taking anything away from him, but I don't think we're 16 lengths worse than he is."
The Preakness could play out like the Derby.
There's a good chance Lion Heart jockey Mike Smith will break from the inside and take the early lead. Smarty Jones, under Stewart Elliott, starts from the No. 7 gate and most likely will stalk Lion Heart, along with Eddington and Rock Hard Ten.
Then it's up to Elliott to decide when to make his move with Smarty Jones. Once he does, Servis said Lion Heart could have more company than usual in the stretch.
"When my horse goes to make his move, I think Rock Hard Ten and Eddington will move, too," Servis said. "Instead of one horse, Lion Heart will have three or four chasing him."
If Lion Heart can hold off the challenge, then his run of second-place finishes will end. So will Smarty Jones' bid to become the first Triple Crown winner in 26 years.
