Art Collector Out of Kentucky Derby With Foot Issue

Art Collector, who had been expected to be one of the favorites for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), was not entered in the race Sept. 1 due to a minor foot issue, trainer Tommy Drury said.

Drury told Jennie Rees, a pool reporter covering the race, that the Bernardini  colt nicked the bulb of his left front heel with a hind hoof while galloping Aug. 31 at Churchill Downs. Because of horse racing's strict medication rules, the colt could not be treated with an anti-inflammatory this close to the race. 

Art Collector won the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2) at Keeneland and the $200,000 Runhappy Ellis Park Derby in his last two starts, and was perfect in four starts this year as a 3-year-old for owner/breeder Bruce Lunsford.

Drury said that Art Collector now will point for the Oct. 3 Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course. The colt has returned to Skylight Training Center in Oldham County.

"He grabbed himself yesterday morning training," Drury said. "It was still very sensitive this morning. When I took my thumbs to palpate the bulbs of his heels, you could still tell it was pinching him. I had to make a choice. Your horse has to always come first. To run in a race of this caliber and trying to compete against the best 3-year-olds in this country, you've got to be 110%. To me, it wouldn't have been fair to Art Collector, even though it's slight, knowing that there's an issue of any kind.

"I had a meeting yesterday afternoon with my veterinarians, Dr. Foster Northrup, Rick Costelle, had my blacksmith there. We discussed some different scenarios. We maybe could have put a bar shoe on it and stabilized it and he would have been fine. But you're going to the Kentucky Derby. First and foremost, as the trainer, it's my responsibility to be the voice for the horse. That's just not fair to him (to run). He's been too good to us, and we're going to make sure he's taken care of first."

Art Collector is now doing well, according to Drury.

"I knew after we gave him a little anti-inflammatory this morning that he'd be perfectly sound," he said. "That's not surprising at all. And that's what we wanted to see. We wanted to see him respond well to it, and it looks like that's what happened. On to Baltimore."

Lunsford took the bad news in stride.

"(Trainer) Tommy (Drury Jr.) did the right thing," he said. "We've got the great vet in Dr. Foster (Northrup), and we all just decided, let's change our route for a second. Let's not let this turn into something worse because he'll be over it in 10 days.

"I feel like somebody sent us a message. This is a really nice horse and his legs are unbelievably clean, and he'll get to be an older horse. One of our goals was to be able to run him as a 3-year-old and 4-year-old. We may wind up having a good story. We may wind up being able to stop a Triple Crown at Pimlico. You never know.

"I've learned over a long time that the sun will come up tomorrow and we'll get through this and I have a wonderful racehorse," he said. "Things could be a lot worse."

Evan Hammonds contributed to this story.