Square Eddie Sidelined With Sore Shin

Paul Reddam’s Square Eddie  , winner of the Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity (gr. I) and runner-up in the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I), will be sidelined for about 30 days with a sore left shin, Reddam said Thursday.

Square Eddie was scheduled to make his dirt debut in the Feb. 16 Southwest Stakes (gr. III) at Oaklawn Park.

“He was supposed to ship to Oaklawn today (Thursday) and yesterday he came up with a shin,” Reddam said. “The vets are looking at it today. It’s just something where you have to stop on them. We were all wound up to go to Oaklawn. He worked on Monday and they said it was his best work ever; everyone was doing handstands. He was fine on Tuesday, and yesterday the groom said something wasn’t quite right. Doug felt the shin and when he squeezed on it the horse flinched. He walked sound, but when he jogged him up the road he could see there was something off, and we can’t take the chance of making it worse.

“This horse was training like no horse we’ve ever had. Doug said we can still try and make the Derby if we can get a prep in him. We were talking about giving him about 30 days, which makes it very tough. We just don’t know at this point. He’s just been so sound, but this is how it goes. It’s what makes winning the Derby so special. You need the road to go very well. We need to do the prudent thing and see how he is. Poor Doug, he was so amped up on this horse. He’s just broken up over this. Yesterday, it was the owner trying to keep the trainer mentally up. It’s supposed to be the other way around.”

Square Eddie was purchased privately by Reddam following a second-place finish in the Sirenia Stakes (Eng-III) on Polytrack at Kempton Race Course in England. The son of Smart Strike -- Forty Gran, by El Gran Senor was bred in Ontario by Kinghaven Farms.

In his first start in 2009, Square Eddie finished second in the San Rafael Stakes (gr. III).