|
|
Archarcharch retired after surgery; Pants on Fire bled during Derby
Archarcharch was bumped coming out of the gate, where Fires thought the injury may have occurred. Then, Court's saddle slipped and then the colt got bumped again before finishing 15th on the wire. Court got off Archarcharch on the far turn and the colt was vanned back to the barn. "He got banged coming out of the gate and kind of knuckled over there at the crown of the track," Fires said. "I told my wife that I didn't like the way he was moving when he passed us the first time, and you hope you are wrong about that." Dr. Larry Bramlage was to perform the surgery on the clean break. Court was at the barn at 6:15 Sunday morning "to check on the big horse." "I'm just heart-broken," Court said. "You are not supposed to get attached to the horses, but, c'mon, this horse, with the owners and everybody. It feels like a knife to the gut. "My saddle slipped coming out of the gate and then maybe 30 yards from the wire I got bumped hard and I have no idea who it was." "You have the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows," Fires said of the emotional roller coaster. "I was never more confident leading a horse over there. I thought I had the horse to beat them. He had trained well, was doing well and very comfortable in his surroundings." Fellow Derby runner COMMA TO THE TOP (Bwana Charlie), who finished last of 19 after pressing the pace for the first mile, suffered a chip in his left front ankle during the race and was "doing OK" at Churchill's Barn 42 Sunday morning, according to trainer Peter Miller. "He ate up last night and he wasn't tired after the race," Miller said. "He didn't drink any water or anything. But he's just a tick off; you can see it. On a scale of 1 to 5, he's about a 1. Not much, but he isn't quite right." Miller said he'd schedule a surgery for his horse to remove the chip with Dr. Wayne McIlwrath of Colorado State University, one of the most respected veterinarians in the country. "Something like this (the surgery) usually means they are out of action for eight to 12 weeks," the trainer said. "But we'll see how it goes and let Dr. McIlwrath tell us how to proceed. He'll be the guy. "If everything goes well, we'll hope to have him back in training and back here in the fall for the Breeders' Cup, either the Mile (G1) or the Dirt Mile (G1). He could go either way. He runs on both." Miller had a noon flight scheduled for Comma to the Top. "He'll be back in his stall at Hollywood Park at 7 tonight," he said. PANTS ON FIRE (Jump Start) didn't suffer any fractures or chips from his ninth-place run in the Derby, but George and Lori Hall's homebred "bled enough to say it was significant" from the exertion put forth in his effort, trainer Kelly Breen said Sunday morning. "One of the things we're working on is his immune system," Breen said. "We were staying on top of his lungs coming into this race so it's a bit of a setback to say we have to work on him. Coming off a mile-and-a-quarter race it's tough to say he's not fit now, but you have to start from the inside out and heal him up. He'll probably be going back to the track soon but he'll just be doing it nice and easy." That said, the May 21 Preakness S. (G1) is almost certainly out of the question for Pants on Fire. "As of right now we'd have to have a miraculous recovery," Breen said. "We're about 99 percent that we're not going to go. Right now I'd say the main objective -- being in New Jersey and being a Jersey-based trainer -- is to get him prepped and ready for the (July 31) Haskell (Invitational [G1]). The Haskell has a series of prep races so we'll see how he is and when he's going to be ready." Breen was happy with the trip Pants on Fire got under 23-year-old Rosie Napravnik, whose popularity undoubtedly helped make her mount the second choice in the wagering, especially considering it was the Derby. "There wasn't too much to fault," Breen said. "The pace wasn't too, too hot and we have a healthy horse now after the race, leg-wise. I'm content with what happened and to move forward. "He didn't get beat that far, he never stopped trying. He has a lot of fight in him." Pants on Fire was set to leave Churchill Downs by van at about noon on Sunday and is expected to arrive at Breen's Monmouth Park barn around 7 a.m. Monday. "We'll take him back home to a big old fluffy stall and see how he is in a couple of days."
 Send this article to a friend
|
|
