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Morning Line, winner of the Grade 1 Carter Handicap last month at Aqueduct, will not run in Monday's Grade 1 $500,000 Metropolitan Handicap as scheduled, due to a foot issue, trainer Nick Zito confirmed Thursday afternoon.

Zito said that Morning Line had some tenderness in his left front foot after being shod at Churchill Downs recently and though the horse did not miss any training time, Zito said he couldn't get a proper workout into Morning Line in time to make the Met Mile.

"After the blacksmith shod him he was a little tender,'' Zito said by phone from Saratoga. "I can't breeze him. I took the shoes off; in fact I just put them back on today, but we have to proceed on the side of caution.''

Zito said he would point Morning Line to the Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga with hopefully a prep race at Belmont at a mile or 1 1/16 miles.

Morning Line, who finished second in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile last fall, won the Grade 1 Carter after running second in the Grade 1 Donn and third in the Grade 3 Hal's Hope at Gulfstream during the winter.

Morning Line would likely have been the favorite for the Met Mile. A large field is expected for the Memorial Day feature, including Aikenite, Caixa Eletronica, Haynesfield, Ibboyee, Kensei, Rodman, Soaring Empire, Stormy's Majesty, Tackleberry, and Tizway.

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