Da Big Hoss sidelined with ankle injury until at least autumn

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Next Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Elkorn Stakes at Keeneland will be absent last year’s winner, Da Big Hoss, who came out of a work earlier this month with an ankle injury that will keep him out of action until at least this fall.

“He is going to need two months of rest,” trainer Mike Maker said Saturday from his base at the Churchill Downs Trackside facility.

Da Big Hoss, sharply claimed for $50,000 in June 2015, won five stakes in seven starts last year, four of which were graded, and made more than $968,000. He hasn’t started since an 11th-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 5.

Even without Da Big Hoss, Maker will be well represented in the Elkorn, a 1 1/2-mile turf race. He plans to start the graded-stakes winners Bigger Picture, Charming Kitten, and Taghleeb.

Others expected include Bullards Alley, Danish Dynaformer, Grey Wizard, Red Rifle, and Twilight Eclipse.