No Belmont for ‘Quest

Coronado’s Quest, the prerace Preakness favorite who was scratched the day before the race because of a bruised hoof, will not run in the Belmont.

Trainer Shug McGaughey said Thursday that getting his colt ready to run 1 1/2 miles only on workouts would be too daunting a task. Coronado’s Quest, who won the Wood Memorial in his last start, is scheduled to run in the seven-furlong Riva Ridge Stakes at Belmont on June 6.

Mike Smith, who would have ridden Coronado’s Quest in the Preakness, watched the race on television from a couch in the jockeys’ room at Pimlico.

“If my horse had run, I think he would have had a nice, easy lead,” Smith said. “Nobody wanted the lead as it was, and I could just see my horse loping along. I’m not saying we would have won, but it would have been nice to have been in there, considering the way the race set up.”