Instagrand has ankle chip removed

ELMONT, N.Y. – Instagrand, the beaten favorite in the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile on Derby Day at Churchill, had surgery last week to remove a chip from a left hind ankle, owner Larry Best said Thursday morning at Belmont Park.

“Rood and Riddle made it sound like it was pretty straightforward,” Best said. “We’ll get him back under tack in 30 to 45 days and then we’ll accelerate the healing on the ligaments.”

Instagrand, who won both his starts at 2 by 10 lengths or more, is 0 for 3 this year. He finished third in the Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct, third in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, and eighth as the even-money favorite in the Pat Day Mile.

Best said that the Jerry Hollendorfer-trained Instagrand was lame behind after the Pat Day Mile and was sent to Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., for a check-up. Best said he was later told that the chip Instagrand had was probably there for awhile. Best deduced it may have bothered him in the Santa Anita Derby.

Best is hopeful Instagrand came make a return in late summer or fall.

Best was at Belmont to watch Rowayton breeze to determine whether he should run him in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at Belmont on June 8. Rowayton, under Joel Rosario, worked five furlongs in 1:01.50 over the training track.

Best has opted to skip the Woody Stephens and will look to run him in an allowance race on Thursday.

“I think I’m going to start him back in an allowance race and get him back into shape,” Best said. “I think he needs a little more conditioning.”

Rowayton finished second in the Del Mar Futurity last summer and most recently was fifth in a first-level allowance at Oaklawn on April 13 in his first start of the year.