An injury suffered during a June 13 workout has taken Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider’s Bind out of consideration for the June 18, $125,000-added Matt Winn Presented by Emirates Equestrian Federation (gr. III) at Churchill Downs and could sideline him for the year.
Trainer Al Stall Jr. said Bind suffered a condylar fracture in his right front leg during a four-furlong work over Keeneland’s synthetic Polytrack surface in preparation for his stakes debut in the Matt Winn. Bind breezed the half-mile in :49 3/5 under exercise rider Jerry O’Dwyer.
“He worked like a champ,” Stall said. “He worked like his normal self. He looked like a gazelle running down the lane, but he didn’t cool out properly and there it was.”
Bind was transported later in the morning to the Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington to undergo surgery. Stall said the prognosis for Bind’s fracture is “very good” at this point.
“It’s non-displaced, clean, there’s no trash,” Stall said. “It’s a kick in the teeth right off the bat on a Monday morning, but that’s just how it goes.”
Stall said that the best case scenario for Bind would probably see him return to competition late this year or early 2012 when his stable returns to New Orleans’ Fair Grounds. Even if the surgery is as successful as he anticipates, Stall said the colt would probably be out of training for 120 days.
Meanwhile, Dilschneider’s Apart breezed four furlongs in :48 2/5 at Keeneland in his final prep for the $500,000-added Stephen Foster Handicap Presented by Abu Dhabi (gr. I), also on June 18 at Churchill Downs. Blame , trained by Stall for Dilschneider and Claiborne, won the 2010 Stephen Foster en route to an Eclipse Award.
“Apart is on target,” Stall said. “I think he’s an improving horse. That’s what he’s got going for him. He’s a grade II, grade III type of winner and we just feel like he’s going to get better with time. It’s nothing we’re doing. It’s just something Mother Nature will take care of, hopefully.”
Apart is coming off a neck victory over Colizeo in the William Donald Schaefer Jr. Memorial (gr. III) at Pimlico, a Preakness Day race that Blame won a year earlier and used successfully as a Foster prep. His career record stands at 5-3-1 in 12 races with career earnings of $640,018. His Churchill Downs record is 2-1-0 in five races, with the 2010 Ack Ack Handicap (gr. III) accounting for one of those victories.
Horses considered likely for the Stephen Foster (with trainer, weight) include: Apart (Stall, 118); Crown of Thorns (Richard Mandella, 121); Duke of Mischief (David Fawkes, 118); Equestrio (Nick Zito, 116); Flat Out (Scooter Dickey, 114); Gladding (John Sadler, 117); Giant Oak (Chris Block, 122); Mission Impazible (Todd Pletcher, 118); Pool Play (Mark Casse, 116) and Regal Ransom (bin Suroor, 117).