Multiple stakes winner Barbados to undergo minor knee surgery

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Barbados, winner of the Spectacular Bid and Hutcheson stakes this month at Gulfstream Park, will undergo minor knee surgery Tuesday at the Rood and Riddle equine medical center in Kentucky, trainer Mike Tomlinson revealed Wednesday at Gulfstream.

Tomlinson said a non-displaced fracture was discovered on the outer, upper portion of the 3-year-old colt’s left knee and is “in no way career-threatening.”

“It’s a tiny thing, and he didn’t take so much as one unsound step,” said Tomlinson. “But he was carrying a little heat in the joint, so we took a picture, and there it was.”

Tomlinson said Barbados probably will rehab at WinStar Farm for 60 to 90 days after the routine surgery, then come back to him at his barn at Churchill Downs. The colt is scheduled to ship north from here Sunday.

“Hopefully we’ll have him back in light training by the first of May or so and be able to have a nice second half of the year with him,” said Tomlinson.

Owned by the Suzanne Stables of Paul and Suzanne Hanifl, Barbados was purchased for $340,000 from the WinStar dispersal last November at Keeneland. Tomlinson had intended to run the Speightstown colt next Feb. 28 in the Swale at Gulfstream, then possibly in either the Florida Derby or Blue Grass Stakes.

Prior to his January stakes double at Gulfstream, Barbados raced three times in the maiden ranks in Kentucky, winning the last of those attempts Oct. 16 at Keeneland.