NEWS
Injured French Park to miss Kentucky Oaks
Posted: Friday, April 07, 2006
French Park, winner of a pair of graded stakes at Churchill Downs last year, sustained an ankle injury during a workout earlier this week at the Louisville track and was scheduled to undergo surgery on Friday, forcing her out of consideration for the Kentucky Oaks (G1).
"She worked well and worked well within herself," trainer Helen Pitts said of French Park, who finished second in her seasonal debut in the Silverbulletday Stakes (G3) on January 14 at Louisiana Downs. "She cooled out fine and walked fine, but on Monday there was quite a bit of heat [in the ankle]."
The chip was discovered in an X-ray taken earlier this week. The Ecton Park filly was to have surgery at Rood and Riddle Equine hospital in Lexington.
Pitts said the injury is not career threatening, but it will take French Park out of a planned start in the Stonerside Beaumont Stakes (G2) on April 14 at Keeneland Race Course and the Kentucky Oaks on May 5 at Churchill Downs.
"The chip is very clean," Pitts said. "There's no damage done to the joint. It's not a big deal, but it's just an unfortunate thing."
Pitts added that French Park, owned by Steve Stan Stables, would get about two months off following the surgery.
In her only other start this year, French Park finished last in the Bonnie Miss Stakes (G2) on March 5 at Gulfstream Park. The Kentucky-bred filly goes to the sidelines with a record of three wins in five career starts, including the 2005 Golden Rod (G2) and Pocahontas (G3) Stakes at Churchill, and earnings of $297,601.
Wagering on
French Park has been suspended in Pool 3 of the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager.
