Remsen Stakes (gr. II) winner O'Prado Again is off the Triple Crown trail after cracking a shin bone in his right front leg during a routine work at Gulfstream Park Jan. 7.
Trainer Dale Romans, speaking to Daily Racing Form Jan. 11, said: “He’s not bad, he’ll be back. The injury isn’t career threatening.”
Donegal Racing's gray/roan son of El Prado is scheduled to be sent to Ocala, where a screw is to be inserted in the injured shin, Romans said.
O'Prado Again won his final two races of 2011, including a 7-1 upset in the Remsen Nov. 26 at Aqueduct when he defeated pacesetter Souper Speedy by three-quarters of a length. He won two of five starts as a juvenile while banking $156,290.
Romans still has a trio of top 3-year-olds in Dullahan, Cozzetti, and King Kid.
“It’s always a disappointment anytime you lose a Derby prospect,” Romans told DRF. “That’s why you can never have enough of them.”
Dullahan, who finished fourth in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I) at Churchill Downs last time out, is being pointed to the Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) with a two-prep schedule. Romans has slated the Palm Beach (gr. IIIT), a 1 1/8-mile turf stakes on March 11, for the son of Even The Score ’s 2012 debut. The Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I) at Keeneland is scheduled as his final Derby prep.