Favorite scratched from Preakness -- good news for Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan

May 15 (UPI) -- Muth, the morning line favorite, has been scratched from Saturday's Preakness Stakes, leaving Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan a better chance to win the second jewel of the U.S. Triple Crown.

Trainer Bob Baffert said Muth spiked a temperature after arriving at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Tuesday, leaving no choice but to withdraw him from the race.

"We are sick about this," Baffert said Wednesday. "The horse had been doing really well. But we have to do what's right by the horse."

Muth has four wins and two seconds from six starts. The victories include the Arkansas Derby, in which Mystik Dan finished third, 6 1/4 lengths back. Muth did not contest the Kentucky Derby because Baffert is banned from Churchill Downs.

The scratch leaves a field of eight for the Preakness, with Mystik Dan the heavy favorite. Should he win, he would need only the June 8 Belmont Stakes to complete the Triple Crown sweep.

Because of construction at Belmont Park, that race is being run this year at Saratoga in upstate New York, with the distance reduced from 1 1/2 miles to 1 1/4 miles.