Art Collector resumes training, being pointed to Preakness

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Art Collector, the standout colt who was declared from consideration for the Kentucky Derby with a minor setback four days before the race was held Saturday at Churchill Downs, already has resumed serious training and is being pointed to the Oct. 3 Preakness at Pimlico, according to trainer Tommy Drury.

Drury said Monday from his primary base at the Skylight training center just east of Louisville that Art Collector resumed galloping Saturday after being cleared to resume training.

“Everything seems to be good,” Drury said. “We’re looking to go to Pimlico with him. He’ll probably breeze this weekend at Skylight, then we’ll take him back over to Churchill after that and do the rest of his training before we go to Maryland. As long as everything keeps going like this, we’re going.”

Art Collector “grabbed himself,” said Drury, during a routine gallop Aug. 31 at Churchill. The result was an “open skin flap on the inside heel of his left front that we treated with a little bute [phenylbutazone] and an antibiotic, and it quieted right down. But with the new medication rules being what they were, there was no way we could run in the Derby. It was just bad timing.”

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Art Collector, bred and owned by Bruce Lunsford, was expected to be the second wagering choice in the Derby behind Tiz the Law. The Bernardini colt has won all four starts this year by open lengths, including the July 11 Blue Grass at Keeneland. Authentic won the Derby by 1 1/4 lengths over Tiz the Law.

Drury said he watched the Derby on television “in my recliner” alongside his teenage son and daughter at his Prospect, Ky., home.

“We had a little spaghetti and watched a movie afterward,” he said. “I thought the way the race set up, maybe we could’ve won it, but obviously we’re never going to know. That really kind of stings, the whole thing.”

Meanwhile, Brian Hernandez Jr., the jockey of Art Collector, watched the Derby from Section 318 with his wife, Jamie, but only because they weren’t allowed to leave the track in time to make it home to watch on television. The social-justice protest march was at its peak as post time approached, and law-enforcement officials were not allowing vehicles to exit the racetrack gates during certain periods.

“Brian told me it was killing him to have to sit through it,” Drury said. “But what’re you gonna do.”