Kentucky Derby: Arthur’s Tale out with injury

Arthur’s Tale, runner-up to Toby’s Corner in last Saturday’s $1 million Wood Memorial, came out of the race with a popped splint bone in his left foreleg and will not make the May 7 Kentucky Derby, trainer Tom Albertrani said.

With only $200,000 in graded stakes earnings, Arthur’s Tale was in a precarious position as far as making it into the 20-horse Derby field as it was, but this injury now cements his fate.

Albertrani said the injury is not deemed to be serious, but the horse will need a little time away from the track. Depending how quickly Arthur’s Tale bounces back, Albertrani said he still holds out hope he could make the Belmont Stakes on June 11, with a possible start in the Peter Pan on May 14.

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“We’re going to back off him, give him a little time,” Albertrani said. “Hopefully, this will not be a long-term thing, and we can make the Belmont with him.”

Albertrani said that while some horsemen might opt to freeze-fire the injury, he said that he prefers to “give it a few days and let it quiet down. We’ll let him tell us when we can go back to the track.”

Arthur’s Tale, a son of 2006 Preakness winner Bernardini, struggled during the winter finishing fourth in both the Count Fleet and Whirlaway Stakes over the inner track. He won a first-level allowance race over the inner on March 23 before coming with a huge run in the Wood, where made the lead in deep stretch only to get run down by Toby’s Corner, who won the race by a neck.

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