Justify's swollen ankle to be re-evaluated in two weeks

Justify, the Triple Crown winner, will be re-evaluated in two weeks, trainer Bob Baffert said on Wednesday, to see if the filling that has recently developed in his left front ankle subsides.

“We just have to evaluate it,” Baffert said. “It goes and it comes. I don’t know if it’s because he’s been training on a different track. But it’s the first time he’s ever had a little filling, so you have to be cautious.

“He’s not unsound. But he’s never carried any filling before. We gave him a couple of days, and then it came back. We’re being super-duper cautious.”

Baffert said Justify would ship to Del Mar in the next week and be part of his stable based there for the summer meet, which begins on July 18. He said Justify has been walking daily at his Santa Anita barn and would continue to walk daily until being re-evaluated.

On Tuesday, a press release put out on behalf of co-owner WinStar Farm announced that Justify had been taken out of training owing to the filling in his left front ankle.

“To go from a maiden winner in February to an undefeated Triple Crown winner in June has been an incredible ride,” Elliott Walden, WinStar Farm’s president, chief executive officer, and racing manager, said in the release. “He is too special to the owners, our team, and all the fans he has around the world to not be 100 percent healthy. As far as any future plans for him, they will be decided after we get him checked out. He is an amazing horse, and we are blessed by his presence."

Justify became the sport’s 13th Triple Crown winner when he captured the Belmont Stakes on June 9 following earlier victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. He has not had a workout since the Belmont. Baffert said on Wednesday that the initial intention following the Belmont was to make the Haskell at Monmouth on July 29, but obviously that plan has been scrapped.

After the Belmont, Justify returned to Churchill Downs, where he was paraded on June 16. One week later, after returning to California, he was paraded at Santa Anita. He had been alternating gallops with walk days the past two weeks.

Justify is unbeaten in six starts. He has won four straight Grade 1 races, beginning with the Santa Anita Derby.

Justify is owned by a partnership that is headed by WinStar and China Horse Club. Starlight Racing and Head of Plains Partners also own racing rights to the colt.

Although no official announcement has been made by the ownership group regarding Justify’s stud plans, he is expected to be retired at year’s end and begin stud duty in 2019. His Triple Crown sweep, coupled with him being the most successful son of the now-deceased sire Scat Daddy, has made him a valuable stallion prospect.