Team Valor International's Went the Day Well, winner of the 2012 Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes (gr. III) and fourth in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), will undergo a tie-back operation in Versailles, Ky. after his left vocal cord was found to be fully paralyzed March 13.
Dr. Gary Priest will perform the surgery. Priest traveled to Fair Hill Training Center to evaluate the 4-year-old son of Proud Citizen, who finished fifth in a March 3 allowance event at Aqueduct Racetrack.
"Dr. Priest has done several of these for Team Valor and all of them have been successful, some more so than others," said Team Valor CEO Barry Irwin. "He did the surgery that allowed Ebony Flyer to win a pair of grade I races in South Africa."
Ebony Flyer won the Cape Fillies Guineas (SAf-I) in December 2010, then had the surgery and eventually came back to win the Majorca Stakes (SAf-I) and South Africa Fillies Sprint (SAf-I) in 2012.
Went the Day Well will have 30 days of complete rest after undergoing the procedure in Kentucky. He could be ready to race within 60 days of returning to training with Graham Motion. Bred in New York by James Patrick Delaney out of the Tiznow mare Tiz Maie's Day, he currently holds a record of two wins and two seconds from eight starts with earnings of $417,114.