Chance It gets a couple months of downtime

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla – Chance It, considered a leading Kentucky Derby candidate prior to his disappointing performance in the Tampa Bay Derby, will spend the next two months on his owner’s farm in Ocala, Fla., trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. confirmed Friday.

Chance It won the Mucho Macho Man at Gulfstream over As Seen On Tv to kick off his 3-year-old campaign. Joseph opted to skip the Fountain of Youth after Chance It drew post 11 to run the following week in the Tampa Bay Derby, where he finished a tiring fifth, beaten 8 1/2 lengths by longshot winner King Guillermo.

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“We went over him from head to toe, gave him every different kind of test there is, X-rays, ultrasound, MRIs, and really couldn’t find anything conclusively wrong,” Joseph said. “My thinking, though, is that last performance definitely wasn’t his performance and there’s probably a reason why he didn’t perform at his best. So we’re going to give him a couple of months’ rest. With the Derby now pushed back to September, and the uncertainty of the racing schedule moving forward, now is the time to give him the time off.”

Joseph said that Chance It, who is owned by Shooting Star Thoroughbreds, will have one month’s total down time before starting back swimming and then training before returning to his barn sometime this spring.

“It’s disappointing not having him here now, but I know how talented he is and hopefully he’ll come back better than ever,” Joseph said. “The best fix is time.”

Joseph also said that his Grade 1 winner Math Wizard flew into Newark, N.J., on Thursday and is in quarantine after returning from Dubai, where he was sent two weeks earlier to compete in the $12 million Dubai World Cup, which was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“He’s supposed to get back here at the end of the week but obviously we have no plans for him with the racing calendar so uncertain right now,” Joseph said. “A trip like that takes something out of a horse, although in this case probably not as much as normal since he never got to run.”

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Joseph, third in the standings behind Todd Pletcher and Mike Maker during the Championship meet, said he’s trying to keep some kind of normality in his stable while awaiting word whether racing would continue here beyond this weekend. Joseph has 75 horses under his care, split between Gulfstream Park and Gulfstream Park West.

“So far, we’re fine as long as we keep running,” Joseph said. “And I don’t see why they couldn’t as long as they keep the same protocols in place. These horses have to train every day anyways, and I really don’t see much difference, from a safety standpoint, between morning training and afternoon racing.”