Saratoga Special winner Ewing, unbeaten in his nascent career, will scratch from tomorrow's Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland and point to his 3-year-old campaign.
Trainer Mark Casse said that Ewing trained on Friday morning, but Casse "wasn't completely happy with him afterwards."
"He wasn't 100 percent, and he's always 100 percent," Casse added.
Casse, who trains Ewing for D. J. Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds, and Kenneth Freirich, said the colt will likely now head to his farm in Ocala, Fla., where "we'll go over him from head to toe and get ready for a 3-year-old campaign."
He said no definitive diagnoses have been made at the moment.
Ewing won his debut by 12 lengths on July 5 at Saratoga before overcoming a troubled start for a handy win in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special on Aug. 2. The colt is from the first crop of Knicks Go, who won the Breeders' Futurity at 2 but developed as an older horse to win the 2020 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and the 2021 Breeders' Cup Classic to claim Horse of the Year honors.
Likewise, Casse said Ewing is still in the early stages of his development.
"He's still kind of a young kid," the trainer said.
Casse, who said the ownership partnership was completely on board with the scratch and freshening, noted that sometimes unplanned circumstances with horses can work out well. Casse's Final Accord was a late out of a maiden race in August at Saratoga when she wasn't warming up well. She has since won both starts, including the Grade 3 Matron on Thursday at Aqueduct.
"Maybe it'll end up being a blessing," Casse said. "It's the way our game goes. The horse comes first."
Ewing's scratch from the Futurity will leave a field of six, with Grade 1 Hopeful winner Ted Noffey the heavy favorite.
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