Flashback, who finished second to Goldencents in the Santa Anita Derby on Saturday, was found on Sunday afternoon to have a small chip in his right knee, trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday night. He is off the Kentucky Derby trail, but is expected to make a full recovery after having surgery in Kentucky with Dr. Larry Bramlage.
Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez fractured a rib on his right side and chipped a bone in his right wrist as a result of being involved in a spill Sunday at Aqueduct, but hopes to return in time to ride in the Kentucky Derby.
Led by undefeated Verrazano, the top three finishers from Saturday’s $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct will all head to Churchill Downs early to begin preparing for the May 4 Kentucky Derby.
Goldencents, who won the Santa Anita Derby on Saturday, emerged from the race “great,” trainer Doug O’Neill said Sunday morning, and will move on to the May 4 Kentucky Derby, a race O’Neill won last year with I’ll Have Another, who also won the Santa Anita Derby in his final prep.
Goldencents, owned by a partnership that includes Rick Pitino, the head coach of the University of Louisville basketball team, which won its Final Four semifinal game on Saturday, 72-68, against Wichita State, had an ideal trip to win Saturday’s $750,000 Santa Anita Derby, his final start before the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 4.
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Undefeated, but no longer untested, Verrazano turned back the challenges of logical contenders Normandy Invasion and Vyjack to win Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct by three-quarters of a length and perhaps earn himself the role as favorite for the May 4 Kentucky Derby.
No fewer than a half-dozen workouts were recorded at several Kentucky venues Saturday as final serious preparations were made for the annual marquee race at Keeneland, the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes.
Oaklawn Park's Racing Festival of the South begins Wednesday with the Fantasy and concludes Saturday with the Arkansas Derby.
After Transparent's eye-catching 10 3/4-length victory Thursday, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin will point him to the Grade 2 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park on May 11.
On Sunday, five 3-year-olds will attempt to convince their trainers to try bigger and better things down the road when they contest a one-turn mile in the $75,000 Fit to Fight Stakes at Aqueduct.
