Stevie Wonderboy's Return Delayed by Ankle Chip

By Tracy Gantz
Eclipse Award winner Stevie Wonderboy had a small chip taken out of his right front ankle a week ago, said trainer Doug O'Neill. The 2005 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) winner had been doing well on the comeback trail, but came out of his last work with a slight filling.

He had worked a half-mile in :50 4/5 at Hollywood Park Nov. 11.

"It was unrelated to his earlier injury, and it was just a little flake," O'Neill said Sunday. The colt was walking sound, but O'Neill and owner Merv Griffin wanted to take every precaution. Surgery was performed at Hollywood Park, and O'Neill said Stevie Wonderboy would miss about 60 days of training.

In addition to last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile victory, the 3-year-old son of Stephen Got Even -- Heat Lightning, by Summer Squall, won the 2005 Del Mar Futurity (gr. II). In his 3-year-old debut, Stevie Wonderboy ran second to Brother Derek in the Jan. 14 San Rafael Stakes (gr. II) at Santa Anita. He sustained a condylar fracture of his right front ankle in a Feb. 6 workout at Hollywood and had a screw surgically inserted into the leg. O'Neill has been bringing him back, readying him for a 4-year-old campaign.