Dogwood Stable and Three Chimney Farm's Palace Malice won't try to win back-to-back Metropolitan Handicaps.
Dogwood President Cot Campbell told the Aiken Standard on Monday afternoon that the 5-year-old bay horse would miss this year's edition of the Grade I race on June 6 at Belmont Park in New York.
"His preparation has not been all that we wanted, and we do not want him to defend his title in a race like the Metropolitan without perfect preparation," Campbell said.
Last year, Palace Malice defeated Goldencents by a length in the Metropolitan, but getting ready to run in the one-mile race again hasn't been easy.
Palace Malice was supposed to make his 2015 racing debut in the Grade III Westchester Stakes at Belmont on May 2, but a bruised right front foot prevented him from competing in an event that he had captured convincingly in 2014.
Then Palace Malice finished third in the six-furlong Diablo Stakes on May 10 at Belmont.
"After he missed some days (of training) with his foot, he had an inappropriate prep race in that he was asked to sprint," Campbell said. "He ran decently, but not spectacularly, and (the performance) was inconclusive. We didn't think it set him up for his best effort in the Metropolitan, and we don't want to try it as a result."
The next target for the two-time Aiken-Trained Horse of the Year and two-time Eclipse Award finalist will be the Grade I Whitney Stakes on Aug. 8 at Saratoga Race Course in New York.
"We hope to get him in a mile or a mile-and-a-sixteenth prep race around the first of July to tighten him up for that," Campbell said.
Palace Malice finished sixth in last year's Whitney. A bruised bone discovered in his left hind leg afterward ended Palace Malice's 2014 racing season.
Palace Malice has won seven of his 18 career races and has earned $2,686,135. In 2013, he triumphed in the Grade I Belmont Stakes.