Sam and Jeri Knighton's Request For Parole, winner of the John Battaglia Memorial and fifth in the Kentucky Derby, will not run in the Belmont Stakes, after trainer Steve Margolis discovered the beginnings of a stress fracture in the colt's left front leg.
The son of Judge T C worked six furlongs in 1:11 4/5 under jockey Robby Albarado on Sunday morning, but didn't show any signs of the injury until the following day.
"He came back good, but on the second day there was a little spot on his shin," Margolis said. "He has the start of a stress fracture on his left front shin, but it's not huge deal. We'll take him over to Lexington, and Dr. Larry Bramlage is going to do a little surgery. He may put a screw or two in the leg and he should be back in the fall."
Margolis had been looking forward to saddling his first horse in New York, where he had worked as an assistant to Stanley Hough.
"It's disappointing," Margolis said. "The horse worked great the other day and Albarado really was excited and I was starting to get excited after the way he worked. But he's run hard and trained hard all winter and I think the time will do him good. I think maybe we'll have a good 4-year-old and maybe even get him ready for the Clark Handicap (GII) this fall against the older horses."
Request For Parole has earned $343,812 in his career, with four victories from 11 starts.
