NEWS
Old Fashioned will miss Derby with injury
Posted: Sunday, April 12, 2009 1:33 PM
OLD FASHIONED
Coady Photography
by Mike Curry
Multiple graded stakes winner Old Fashioned will miss the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) after he came out of his runner-up finish in the Arkansas Derby (G2) with a career-threatening injury.
Trained by Larry Jones for Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farms, the Unbridled’s Song colt was diagnosed Sunday morning with a slab fracture of the right knee. The injury is not life-threatening, but there is a chance it could end Old Fashioned’s racing career.
"He's going back with our horses to Kentucky and we'll look to having him surgically treated once we get there,” Jones said. “Horses with that kind of injury sometimes come back, but rarely at the level at which he competed."
After setting a strong pace, Old Fashioned battled gamely in the stretch of the Arkansas Derby but could not hold off Papa Clem. He finished a half-length back in second as the even-money favorite. (To view a video of the Arkansas Derby, click here.)
Old Fashioned was the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby after reeling off four straight wins to begin his career. He was unbeaten in three starts as a two-year-old, capping his campaign with a 7 1/4-length romp in the Remsen Stakes (G2) on November 29 at Aqueduct.
After opening the season with a 3 1/4-length victory in the Southwest Stakes (G3), Old Fashioned cemented his status as a leading contender for the United States classics. He was a fixture atop the THOROUGHBRED TIMES Road to the Triple Crown poll until he suffered his first defeat—a runner-up finish to Win Willy in the Rebel Stakes (G2) on March 14.
With four wins and two runner-up finishes in six career starts, Old Fashioned has banked $583,280 in purse earnings. He is out of multiple Group 1-placed graded stakes winner Collect Call, by Meadowlake. Collect Call finished third in the 2001 Kentucky Oaks (G1).
To view a video of the Rebel Stakes, click here.
To view a video of the Southwest Stakes, click here.
To view a video of the Remsen Stakes, click here.
Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor
