“Clearly something is wrong with Sotomayor. We haven’t been able to find anything wrong with him in the mornings and based on his run today (Saturday), clearly something is not right,” a very concerned trainer Anthony Nunes told the Complete Racing Guide.

After Sotomayor’s eighth place finish on his seasonal debut on March 1, over six and a half furlongs (1,300m), a distance which is short of his liking, his connections wanted to see a better run from last year’s champion two-year-old on Saturday in Overnight Allowance company, especially running over a mile, a distance which he is much better suited to.

Sotomayor did not produce that final kick as he did when winning the Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes last Boxing Day, and failed to ignite any sparks, finishing again in eighth position.

Sotomayor, under Linton Steadman, broke well from the number 10 post and was then taken off the pace running in sixth position at the six-furlong point.

When the pace increased at the half-mile, Sotomayor did not accelerate and faded behind. The event was won by the Patrick Lynch-trained Another Bullet (O’Brien White) in 1:37.0 seconds.

It is now a race against time for Nunes as he seeks answers in order to get Sotomayor back on the right course especially with the 2,000 Guineas just three weeks away.

“The plan now is to call in the vet and see if we can find something but we just know that this is not Sotomayor, right now he is not the horse we know.

“We don’t have much time from now to the 2,000 Guineas and so we are hoping that the vet will be able to find something that will help to guide us.

“I really can’t say at this time if everything is going to be alright, we can only wait. I can’t sit here and plan for the 2,000 Guineas after a run like that,” Nunes told the Complete Racing Guide.