Knee chip sidelines Barbados

Barbados will undergo surgery at Rood & Riddle to have a knee chip removed (Lauren King/Adam Coglianese Photography)

Suzanne Stables’ Barbados (Speightstown) exited his half-length victory in
the January 24 Hutcheson
S. (G3) at Gulfstream Park with a
knee chip that will have trainer Mike Tomlinson pointing for a fall campaign.

The three-year-old bay will
ship on Sunday, February 1, from South Florida to the Rood and Riddle Equine Clinic in
Lexington, Kentucky, where Dr. Larry Bramlage is scheduled to perform surgery on February 3.

“He came out of the Hutcheson with a small chip in the
upper joint of the left knee,” Tomlinson said. “It’s not anything serious. He’ll
only be off 60 to 90 days and it’s a very good prognosis. The chip will come out
very nicely. Dr. Bramlage said it’s a fresh chip and it just happened in the
race. We’ll just get that done and bring him back in the fall.”

The seven-furlong Hutcheson was the third straight win and
second stakes victory in three weeks at the Championship Meet for Barbados, who
rolled to a three-length score in the six-furlong Spectacular Bid S. on
January 3.

“He has never taken a sore step,” Tomlinson noted. “But, on Monday afternoon,
we noticed a difference in the right and left knee, heat-wise. There was a
little bit of pressure in the upper joint, so the next morning we looked him
over close and decided we should go ahead and take a picture, and that’s when
the X-ray showed up.”