Dixie Stakes (gr. IIT) winner Paddy O'Prado will be checked by a veterinarian in Kentucky May 22 after suffering an apparent foot bruise at Pimlico Race Course, trainer Dale Romans said.
Donegal Racing’s Paddy O’Prado won the $200,000 Dixie by 1 1/2 lengths after going from last to first in a seven-horse field. The bruise was discovered in the test barn.
“It looks like a bruised (right) foot,” Romans said at Pimlico the morning of May 22. “We couldn’t see anything major. He’ll be checked out by a vet in Kentucky.”
Paddy O’Prado, ridden in the Dixie by Kent Desormeaux, returned to Kentucky early the morning of May 22 along with stablemate Shackleford , who won the Preakness Stakes (gr. I). Romans said Paddy O’Prado wasn’t vanned off the racetrack but was transported by van from the test barn to his stall in the stakes barn at Pimlico.
Paddy O’Prado, a 4-year-old by El Prado, is considered one of the top grass horses in the United States. The Dixie marked his 2011 debut.