Brereton Jones' homebred Proud Spell will miss the April 4 Apple Blossom Handicap (gr. I) at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas, according to the 4-year-old filly’s trainer Larry Jones.
Jones said the initial diagnosis is that the problem is an infection and will not sideline the 2008 champion 3-year-old filly for long.
"She had some filling in her left rear and was a little tender when she walked," Jones said April 1. "Hopefully, it's just an infection."
Because there was a van available from Arkansas to Kentucky shortly after the problem was detected March 30, the filly is now stabled at Jones' Keeneland barn.
The daughter of Proud Citizen made her 2009 debut March 12 and finished second to Superior Storm in a 1 1/16-mile allowance/optional claiming race at Oaklawn. Proud Spell hadn’t competed since finishing second in the Fitz Dixon Cotillion Stakes (gr. III) last September at Philadelphia Park after capturing the Alabama Stakes (gr. I) and the Kentucky (gr. I), Delaware (gr. II), and Fair Grounds (gr. II) Oaks earlier in the year.