Injury knocks Calculator off Kentucky Derby trail

ARCADIA, Calif. – Calculator, the winner of last month’s Sham Stakes at Santa Anita, emerged from a workout at San Luis Rey Downs on Saturday with an injury that will sideline him six months and takes him off the Triple Crown trail, trainer Peter Miller said Sunday.

Miller declined to reveal the injury. He said Calculator worked well on Saturday under jockey Elvis Trujillo – he went five furlongs in 1:00.40 – but “was off after the work.”

“We’re hoping for a full recovery, hoping for a fall campaign,” Miller said.

“To call it a disappointment is an understatement,” Miller said. “It’s a punch in the stomach, whether this happened on February 1 or July 1.”

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Calculator won for the first time in the Sham, but he had an accomplished resume last year at age 2, when he finished second in a pair of Grade 1 races, the Del Mar Futurity and FrontRunner Stakes, behind American Pharoah, the Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old male.

Calculator, a son of In Summation, is owned by Richard Pell.

“I feel bad for the owner,” Miller said. “As trainers you’re used to disappointment on almost a daily basis.”

Calculator was scheduled to make his next start in the Risen Star Stakes Feb. 21 at Fair Grounds.