Rosemary A. Rauch and David Zell’s Capt. Candyman Can is expected to miss most or all of the remainder of 2011 after apparently suffering an injury during his third-place run in last week’s Aristides (gr. III) at Churchill Downs.
Trainer Ian Wilkes said he’s not “100 percent” sure of the exact nature of the problem that has sent the 5-year-old gelded son of Candy Ride to the sideline. But Wilkes suspects that Capt. Candyman Can fractured his humerus bone in his left shoulder. Capt. Candyman Can is due for a bone scan in a few days that should identify the exact injury.
Wilkes said the injury would knock Capt. Candyman Can out of training for “at least 90 days.”
The winner of the grade I King’s Bishop at 3, Capt. Candyman Can missed all of 2010 with a knee issue. The Aristides was the fourth start of a 2011 campaign that Wilkes had hoped would reach its climax in November in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I) at Churchill Downs. He won his first two starts of the year and finished a close fourth to Aikenite in the Churchill Downs (gr. II) on Kentucky Derby Day prior to his run in the Aristides.
Wilkes believes the injury could have occurred at the start of the Aristides. Capt. Candyman Can got away from the starting gate slowly after a slow loading process for the field of eight when one of its members was reluctant to enter the gate.
“It’s possible it happened at the start; he did stumble there, too,” Wilkes said. “He didn’t finish the way he should, the way he normally does. I have no doubt that he would have won the race if he was right.”
Capt. Candyman Can is stabled at Skylight Training Center, which is located about 30 minutes from Churchill Downs. He is scheduled for rest on a farm after the bone scan is completed on Wilkes’ stable star.