LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Saturday’s 137th Kentucky Derby lost yet another top contender Tuesday when Toby’s Corner was declared out of the race by trainer H. Graham Motion with an injury to his left hind leg.

The son of Bellamy Road vaulted into the top tier of Derby contenders with an upset victory over Uncle Mo in the April 9 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. Earlier in the year, Toby’s Corner won the Whirlaway Stakes.

Toby’s Corner is stabled at the Fair Hill training center in Maryland, where he worked six furlongs in 1:15 Sunday morning over the synthetic Tapeta track.

“After what was a perfect work on Sunday, we weren’t 100 percent happy with him (Monday),” Motion told the Clancy brothers’ ST Publishing (Steeplechase Times, Saratoga Special) website, which has been blogging daily reports on Toby’s Corner’s progress toward the Run for the Roses.

“He had a lameness in his left hind. We had him looked at here and then we sent him to New Bolton (the nearby veterinary clinic in Pennsylvania). At this point, there’s nothing obvious that’s causing the lameness. We had to make a decision as to whether he could get on a van for Kentucky (Tuesday) morning and obviously he couldn’t.

“I feel for the Cotters (Toby’s Corner’s owner-breeders) and these guys in the barn. Everyone has done a great job with the horse. They believe in the horse, they’ve done the work. It’s hard for everybody. Today’s a tough day.”

Toby’s Corner was examined at New Bolton Center by Dr. Dean Richardson (the vet who tried to save Barbaro), the ST blog said, and underwent a bone scan. The test was inconclusive, but the colt is off the Derby trail.

His defection opens a slot in the Derby field, limited to 20 starters based on graded stakes earnings, for Derby Kitten, upset winner of the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 23.