Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin reports that Miller Lite Holy Bull Stakes (gr. II) winner Cairo Prince is slated to undergo surgery for an ankle chip April 25 in Lexington and could return for a late summer/early autumn campaign.
The Pioneerof the Nile colt, who was declared off the road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) April 19 with an issue in his left front. He was shipped from McLaughlin's winter base at Palm Meadows Training Center to Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital to be inspected by Dr. Larry Bramlage (full story here).
"Cairo Price is scheduled for surgery tomorrow at Rood & Riddle to remove a small but very painful chip from his ankle," McLaughlin said April 24 via his Twitter account, @KPMRacingStable. "If all goes well, (he) should be back for a successful late summer/fall campaign."
Cairo Prince, who broke his maiden impressively at first asking last summer at Saratoga Race Course, won the Nashua Stakes (gr. II) as a 2-year-old and was a hard-fought second in the Remsen (gr. II) at Aqueduct Racetrack. He won the Holy Bull by 5 3/4 lengths at Gulfstream Park in his 3-year-old debut, but missed the Feb. 22 Besilu Stables Fountain of Youth (gr. II) and then was fourth in the Besilu Stables Florida Derby (gr. I).
"Thanks for all the kind words and support for Cairo Prince and my team during this difficult time," McLaughlin tweeted. "Thankfully it is a minor injury."
Bred in Kentucky by Richard L. Elam & Katherine H. Elam out of the Holy Bull mare Holly Bubbette, Cairo Prince was a A $250,000 purchase from the Keeneland September yearling sale in 2012 by Terry Murray, Paul Braverman, Harvey Clarke, and Craig Robertson III. The partnership sold a majority interest in the gray/roan colt to Godolphin following the Holy Bull.
