Red Ruby to miss Alabama with injured splint bone

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Red Ruby, the emphatic winner of the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks last month, will miss the Grade 1 Alabama and potentially the remainder of her 3-year-old season due to a splint-bone injury, trainer Kellyn Gorder said Wednesday.

Gorder said Red Ruby may have a hairline fracture of a splint bone in a front leg and is getting stall rest at Keeneland, where she is based.

“We’re pretty positive that’s what it is, but we need to X-ray it again,” Gorder said. “She’s just getting stall rest to keep [the leg] as quiet as we can.”

Red Ruby missed some time this year when she sustained cuts to a leg in a freak barn accident at Oaklawn. Though she missed the Kentucky Oaks, she came back with a 4 3/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico in May and a 13-length gallop in the Delaware Oaks. Gorder was planning to start her in the Alabama on Aug. 18.

Gorder said the splint-bone issue only developed within the last week. If it is a fracture, she would likely not return to the races until next year.

“She can come back 100 percent, better than what she was,” Gorder said. “I can see her filling out and becoming an awesome 4-year-old.”

Red Ruby, a daughter of Tiznow owned by Sandra Sexton and Brandi Nicholson, has won 4 of 6 starts.