Ankle chip sidelines Buddy's Saint

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Buddy's Saint is off the Kentucky Derby trail after a chip was discovered in his right front ankle following a five-furlong workout in 1:01.30 at Gulfstream Park on Sunday morning.

"He didn't really work that good, he didn't gallop out real well," trainer Bruce Levine said. "He cooled out sore, we took some pictures, and discovered a chip in his right front ankle."

Sunday's work was the first for Buddy's Saint since he finished ninth after getting banged around on the opening turn of his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Fountain of Youth here on Feb. 20. Buddy's Saint did not return to the track for a week after that race due to what Levine described as "some body soreness."

Buddy's Saint was among the leaders of the 3-year-old division entering the 2010 campaign after closing out his 2-year-old season with victories in the Grade 2 Nashua and Grade 2 Remsen stakes. He was scheduled to make his next start in the Grade 1 Wood on April 3.

"I'm going to talk to Dr. John Madison at Ocala Equine about the possibility of doing surgery to remove the chip," said Levine. "I think he'll probably need 60 to 90 days off and that we can probably have him back by the fall. Obviously this is part of the game. It takes a bit out of you when you see one get hurt. You feel for both the owner and the horse. It just hurts a little more when it's a better horse."