Trained by H. James Bond, Buddha has had several setbacks since winning his first three starts this season. As a 2-year-old trained by Bill Mott, Buddha was 10th in his only start.Buddha was scratched out of this year's Kentucky Derby with a bruised foot and an expected start in the Dwyer Stakes (gr. II) earlier this month was scrapped after an endoscopic exam detected mucous in his lungs.
Wood Memorial Stakes (gr. I) winner Buddha will not start in either the Jim Dandy Stakes (gr. II) on Aug. 4 or the Aug. 24 Travers Stakes (gr. I) at Saratoga.Ben Glass, racing manager for owners Gary and Mary West, said there is nothing physically wrong with the 3-year-old son of Unbridled's Song, but that his connections did not want to push him as they prepare for a campaign that will conclude with the Breeders' Cup Classic at Arlington Park.Rather than run Buddha in the Jim Dandy and Travers, Glass said other options, including the Pennsylvania Derby (gr. III) at Philadelphia Park on Sept. 2, are under consideration.