Samraat set to begin recovery at Violette barn

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Rick Violette said Tuesday that surgery to repair small stress fractures in Samraat’s right cannon bone went well, and that he expects the multiple Grade 3 winner to be back in his barn at Saratoga within the next 48 hours. Samraat was injured while preparing for last Saturday’s Grade 2 Jim Dandy.

“The surgery went perfectly,” said Violette. “They drilled a half-dozen really fine holes in the affected area to stimulate healing and bone growth. You can hardly see the fractures on the X-ray, but they are there. He’ll be off for 90 to 120 days. He’ll spend the first month of that period with us at Saratoga, and then we’ll decide from there where to send him next.”

Samraat won his first five starts, including the Withers and Gotham stakes, before suffering his first defeat when finishing second behind Wicked Strong in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial. Samraat ran in two of the three legs of the Triple Crown, finishing fifth in the Kentucky Derby and a troubled sixth, beaten just four lengths, in the Belmont.

Samraat, a son of Noble Causeway, is owned by My Meadowview Farm.