Matt King Coal sidelined until at least fall

ELMONT, N.Y. – Matt King Coal, a highly regarded 3-year-old who finished fourth in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial, will be sidelined through at least the summer and early fall due to a non-displaced hairline fracture of his pelvis, trainer Linda Rice said Monday.

Rice said she didn’t like the way Matt King Coal had trained following the Wood Memorial and had a nuclear scan done that revealed the injury. No surgery will be required, but Matt King Coal will need two months of stall rest and two months of being turned out before he is able to resume training.

Matt King Coal obviously will miss the significant races on the 3-year-old calendar, but Rice said the “prognosis is good” for an eventual return to the races, most likely next year.

Rice presumes the injury happened during the Wood Memorial.

“He had a pretty tough trip into the first turn, and by the half-mile pole, Jose [Ortiz] said he was lugging out,” Rice said.

Matt King Coal ended his 2-year-old season with a 5 3/4-length maiden victory at Belmont and began this year with a highly rated one-length allowance win at Aqueduct. In the Wood, he set the pace inside of Outwork and faded in the stretch, finishing fourth, beaten 2 1/2 lengths in the slop.

Meanwhile, Rice said her other stakes-caliber 3-year-old colt, Seymourdini, is a candidate for either the Grade 2, $500,000 Woody Stephens going seven furlongs or the $150,000 Easy Goer Stakes going 1 1/16 miles, both on the June 11 Belmont Stakes undercard.