Ketoh, a Kentucky Derby Hopeful, Near Death From Colon Condition

Ketoh, one of the early favorites for this year’s Kentucky Derby, is apparently near death at a Chino veterinary hospital after suffering an inflammation of the colon at Santa Anita a week ago.

“His chances are very questionable,” Robert Baker, the head of the Chino Valley Equine Hospital, said Thursday of the 3-year-old colt. “It’s a day-to-day thing, and very unpredictable. But experts have been called in from Kentucky and Texas and there seems to be nothing we can do for him now.”

Even if Ketoh survives, he would not likely ever race again, Baker said. Ketoh won the Cowdin Stakes, a major race for 2-year-olds, last September at Belmont Park, and three weeks ago, in his 3-year-old debut, he was bumped and crowded leaving the gate but still won the Bolsa Chica Stakes at Santa Anita.

Trainer Wayne Lukas had been planning to ship Ketoh to Arkansas next Monday to run in the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park March 29.

Ketoh is a son of Exclusive Native and Courtly Dee. Exclusive Native, who died in 1983, sired Affirmed, who won the Kentucky Derby and the Triple Crown in 1978, and Genuine Risk, who in 1980 became only the second filly to win the Derby.