Bone Chip Knocks Sorcerer's Stone Out of Action

Robert Shepard and Carrol Castille's Sorcerer's Stone has been knocked out of Triple Crown consideration because of injury.

The winner of the Arlington-Washington Futurity (gr. III) last season suffered a small bone chip that is believed to have occurred during a workout last Friday at Gulfstream Park. Trainer Patrick Byrne made the announcement Tuesday.

Sorcerer's Stone, a son of Gulch, named for one of the popular books in the "Harry Potter" series, won his first three starts. The most impressive of those was his 8 ½-length romp in the Arlington-Washington Futurity. He closed out the year with a sixth-place finish in the Bessemer Trust Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) at Belmont Park.

No decision has been made on whether surgery to remove the chip will be necessary. Byrne said that Sorcerer's Stone could be ready to return to racing as early as the summer.