Art Collector Resumes Training, on Target for Preakness
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Photo: Rick Samuels
Art Collector trains at Churchill Downs Aug. 31, after which he emerged with a minor injury to his left front leg
Art Collector, who was not entered in the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) due to a minor foot issue that developed Aug. 31, resumed training Sept. 4, trainer Tommy Drury said. He is pointed toward the Oct. 3 Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course.
Drury said the Bernardini colt jogged Friday at Skylight Training Center in Goshen, Ky. before jogging a mile and galloping a mile there on Saturday, the morning of the Derby. He said the injury, in which he grabbed himself while training toward the Derby at Churchill Downs—catching his left front heel with a hind hoof—is on the mend.
Drury has been pleased with what he has seen from Art Collector in his training the past couple of days.
The 3-year-old "caught his leads right on cue and did everything correctly. Hopefully we're going to be OK here," the trainer said by telephone. "Fortunately, it wasn't terrible. It was more the timing of it that got us more than anything else."
He and his staff have been treating the heel with an iodine medication to toughen the area, which was sensitive and sore to touch in the middle of this week.
Art Collector had been expected to be one of the secondary favorites in the Kentucky Derby behind Tiz the Law. This summer, he won the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2) at Keeneland and the $200,000 Runhappy Ellis Park Derby, giving him a 4-for-4 record this year for owner/breeder Bruce Lunsford.
Despite the disappointment of the colt's ill-timed setback this week, Drury said he has put it behind him. Though some find it too disappointing to watch the Derby—knowing how close he had come to making the race with Art Collector—he will tune in.
King Guillermo and Finnick the Fierce also bowed out of the Derby this week, the former from a fever and the latter from suspected unsoundness in his right front leg. They were scratched days after being entered Sept. 1.
"Once we put the Derby behind us, our focus is on the Preakness and trying to get him there. That's where my mindset is," Drury said. "The biggest reason I want to watch the Derby is I want to see who we have to run against in the Preakness."