Magnitude will miss Triple Crown with ankle chip

The question of whether Magnitude can duplicate his brilliant performance in the Risen Star Stakes will not be answered for a while. Magnitude has been diagnosed with a bone chip in his left ankle and will have surgery to remove the chip Wednesday, trainer Steve Asmussen said Tuesday morning.

Asmussen said Magnitude was being shipped to Kentucky, where Dr. Larry Bramlage will perform the surgery. A timeframe for Magnitude’s return to action won’t be established until after Bramlage can perform a post-surgical assessment.

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Magnitude, making his seventh start Feb. 15 in the Risen Star, turned in a spectacular showing, crossing over from post 12 under his new jockey, Ben Curtis, making the lead before the first turn, setting a withering pace yet holding firm to the wire to win by 9 3/4 lengths. His time of 1:48.85 for 1 1/8 miles yielded a 108 Beyer Speed Figure, an historically high number for an early season 3-year-old and the best of his generation thus far.

Magnitude was set to debut on Daily Racing Form’s weekly Derby Watch at No. 1, the shortest price horse among 20 on the list. Instead, the colt will miss the Triple Crown.

Ron Winchell’s Winchell Thoroughbreds purchased the son of Not This Time and Rockadelic, by Bernardini, as a yearling for $450,000. Winchell and Asmussen just missed winning the 2022 Derby with Epicenter, who also won the Risen Star, and Asmussen, a Hall of Famer since 2016, still seeks his first Derby win.

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