No More Nile

Kentucky Derby runner-up Pioneerof the Nile has been retired due to a soft tissue injury according to bloodhorse.com. The 3-year-old son of Empire Maker trained by Bob Baffert was among the best of his class having won four consecutive graded stakes including the grade 1 Santa Anita Derby and CashCall Futurity and the grade 2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes and San Felipe Stakes earlier this year.

“We noticed a little filling in his leg when we took the bandages off and we were hoping he just rapped it,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “I’m in shock. I was getting so excited about that horse. I loved the way he had been training. He was getting stronger with age and was just starting to mature. He gave us a lot of thrills. The saddest part is that we hadn’t even seen his full potential,"

Papa Clem, the winner of the grade 2 Arkansas Derby and fourth in the grade 1 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum Brands, will be making his next start in the $175,000 Long Branch Stakes at Monmouth Park Sunday.

Trainer Gary Stute said he still has the son of Smart Strike on course for the $1 million Haskell Invitational Aug. 2 and is using the Long Branch to "get a win into him,” Stute said. “We have to build his confidence again.”

In his last start, Papa Clem was sixth in the Blackberry Preakness Stakes and has not won since taking the Arkansas Derby in April at Oaklawn Park.

Nicanor, a full brother to 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, will be making his next start in the grade 2 Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs. The $750,000 race will be run July 18 at 1-1/4 miles on the turf. Nicanor is undefeated in two starts on the grass including a maiden and an allowance victories in his last two starts.