British Idiom sidelined with ankle chip
British Idiom, champion 2-year-old filly of 2019, was diagnosed with a bone chip in an ankle, has undergone surgery, and is out of action until later this year, trainer Brad Cox confirmed Monday.
Cox, however, still has a loaded stable as racing is set to resume Saturday at Churchill Downs. Among the many horse he has aimed at Churchill stakes races is Monomoy Girl, champion 3-year-old filly of 2018. Monomoy Girl hasn’t started since she won the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Distaff but had what Cox termed “a fantastic work” on May 9 at Keeneland and is set to start in the Shawnee Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on May 23.
“She seems to be on her game. You don’t know till you run them, but the talent is still there,” Cox said.
British Idiom’s talent was nowhere to be seen when she finished 10th on May 1 in the Fantasy Stakes. In her first start after winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, British Idiom had finished second, beaten nearly five lengths by Finite, in the Rachel Alexandra at Fair Grounds. The morning after the Fantasy, Cox said, British Idiom exhibited “a little filling and heat” in her ankle and the chipped bone was diagnosed.
“It’s nothing major,” Cox said.
Cox said he could have two runners, Arklow and Factor This, for the June 13 Louisville, a 1 1/2-mile turf race. Owendale, most recently second last fall in the Grade 1 Clark, could make his 4-year-old debut in the May 23 Blame Stakes, a one-turn mile short of his best distance but a place to get his season started. Juliet Foxtrot, seeking a Grade 1 win in 2020, could launch her season May 30 in the Mint Julep Stakes, while Hieronymus, who won three turf races, including two stakes, over the winter at Fair Grounds, is aimed toward the May 23 War Chant.
Fair Grounds Oaks winner Bonny South has posted three recent works at Keeneland, but Cox said that owing to a paucity of opportunity there are no set plans for her. Warrior’s Charge, a fine second in the Oaklawn Handicap on May 2, ships to Churchill from Oaklawn on May 13 and could be considered for the Stephen Foster on June 27.