Toby's Corner healing well

Toby’s Corner, who was forced to miss the Kentucky Derby because of lameness, has responded well to treatment in recent days and could return to training next week, his trainer, Graham Motion, said Thursday.

“He has significantly improved in the last 48 hours,” Motion said on a national teleconference. “He had an acupuncture treatment 48 hours ago, and since then we’ve seen big improvement. I would say he’s marginally off, if at all.”

Motion said he “maybe would put the tack on him next week.” Toby’s Corner is at Motion’s barn at the Fair Hill training center in Maryland.

Toby’s Corner won the Wood Memorial in his last start, a victory that made him one of the leading contenders for the Derby. But he had to be withdrawn from the Derby five days before the race. Motion won the Derby anyway with what turned out to be his only starter in the race, Animal Kingdom.