Puzzlement Out of Belmont; Has Bruised Foot

Peter Pan Handicap runner-up Puzzlement was scratched out of Saturday's Belmont Stakes by trainer Allen Jerkens after a bruise was detected on the colt's right front foot Thursday morning.

"We discovered he was lame this morning when we were preparing to go to the track with him," Jerkens said.

Jerkens said he did not know how the son of Pine Bluff sustained the injury. Puzzlement worked 1 1/8 miles Monday and had not shown any indication of a problem until Thursday morning, Jerkens said.

The trainer said an abscess that formed around the bruise would likely break out in a day or two and that the colt would have his foot soaked in hot water and treated with a poultice until the bruise heals.

While the injury knocks Puzzlement out of the final leg of the Triple Crown, Jerkens said he was encouraged by the relatively minor nature of the problem.