Hear the Ghost Is the Latest Casualty on the Kentucky Derby Trail

The G2 San Felipe winner, Hear the Ghost, will miss Saturday's G1 Santa Anita Derby and the May 4 Kentucky Derby due to an injury as reported by bloodhorse.com today. The report says that "he was detected to be slightly lame during a morning jog April 4 at Betfair Hollywood Park."

Hear the Ghost becomes the second Kentucky Derby contender to be pulled out of the Run for the Roses this week. Earlier in the week, Shanghai Bobby was taken out of Derby consideration to be freshened up.

Also, according to the report, "Owner Ted Aroney of Halo Farms said Hear the Ghost will be sidelined for about 90 days with what he called 'a small injury' to his right front leg."

This timeline definitely means he will miss all the Triple Crown races, but if his injury requires only rest, he should be fine for the second part of the year.

A very unfortunate incident for the promising colt son of Ghostzapper out of the Coronado's Quest mare Rehear. At the moment of the announcement, he was 5-2 on the morning line for the Santa Anita Derby—good enough for second betting choice.

In his last start at the G2 San Felipe Stakes, Hear the Ghost rallied to run down Flashback and Goldencents in the stretch and win the $300,000 race by a half-length. He was ridden by Corey Nakatani, and he covered 8.5 furlong test in 1:42.34.

The upset win earned him 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points and propelled him into the Kentucky Derby picture. He had his trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and his jockey, veteran Nakatani, dreaming of Derby roses.

Hear the Ghost has a lifetime record of 3-2-1-0 with earnings of $222,400. He was in eighth place in the Kentucky Derby qualifying points standing with 50.

Follow @CarlosTorresSD