Leave the Light On injured, off Derby trail

Leave the Light On, the winner of the Remsen Stakes in his last start, injured a hind ankle in a workout last weekend, needs surgery, and is off the Triple Crown trail, trainer Chad Brown said Thursday.

“He needs a couple of months off,” Brown said from Florida, where Leave the Light On has been training at the Palm Meadows training center. “It’s obviously very disappointing, but the long-term prognosis is good. We’re doing the right thing and stopping now.”

Brown said Leave the Light On will have surgery on his right hind ankle Monday at the Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., where Dr. Larry Bramlage will perform the surgery. Brown said that Bramlage gave him an encouraging prognosis regarding Leave the Light On, and he believed the colt could return to racing by the fall.

“But we won’t rush him. We’ll let the horse tell us. We’re looking at the long run with the horse,” Brown said. “We’d love to have him back for the big races in the fall.”

Leave the Light On, a 3-year-old colt by Horse Greeley, has won twice in three starts. He was seventh in his debut at Belmont, beat maidens in his next start, then won the Remsen. He was scheduled to make his first start of the year next month in the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

He had worked three times this winter at Palm Meadows since arriving from New York, most recently a five-furlong drill in 1:00.80 last Sunday.

Leave the Light On was purchased for $210,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. last April by co-owners William Lawrence and the Klaravich Stables of Seth Klarman.

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