Slow Down Andy taking it easy on the farm for undetermined period

Slow Down Andy, a three-time stakes winner who was third in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland in November, is in the midst of a farm vacation.

Trainer Doug O’Neill said earlier this week that Slow Down Andy was turned out at the beginning of this month at owner-breeders Paul and Zillah Reddam’s Ocean Breeze Ranch in Bonsall, Calif.

Slow Down Andy missed an expected start in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26 because of soreness and had not trained to O’Neill’s satisfaction in the first weeks of the year.

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“He’s body sore and we were going slow here,” O’Neill said. “It seemed we weren’t getting him the way we wanted. We took the tack off and let him down.”

O’Neill said the length of Slow Down Andy’s vacation is unclear.

“We’ll play it by ear,” he said. “He’ll be back, but no firm plans. He’s such a talented colt.”

Slow Down Andy has won 4 of 10 starts and earned $909,100. A California-bred by Nyquist, Slow Down Andy won the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity as a 2-year-old in 2021, and two stakes last year – the Grade 3 Sunland Park Derby and Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on turf. In the BC Dirt Mile, Slow Down Andy stalked the pace and finished third by 1 3/4 lengths to Cody’s Wish.

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