Maxfield Resumes Training After Condylar Fracture
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Photo: Coady Photography
Maxfield takes the Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs
Godolphin’s undefeated homebred Maxfield, once considered a top contender for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), has returned to trainer Brendan Walsh’s barn at Churchill Downs after rehabbing a condylar fracture that removed him from Derby contention.
Maxfield, a 3-year-old son of Street Sense , began light training last week at Churchill after he missed about 90 days of training from a non-displaced lateral condylar fracture in his right front leg diagnosed June 10 at Keeneland. At the time, the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1) and Matt Winn Stakes (G3) winner was prepping for the July 11 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2).
It’s been a trying few months for Walsh, who last week lost his close friend, champion Irish jockey Pat Smullen, to pancreatic cancer. Walsh, who grew up in Ireland, spent several years alongside Smullen while working for Godolphin in Dubai.
On “At the Races with Steve Byk," Walsh said Smullen "was diagnosed a couple of years ago, and the last couple of months he was very, very sick. We always talked and, on two occasions, he thought he had cancer beat. I have a text from him the other week, and it was the most positive text I got from him in the last couple of months. When I think about it, I think it was his way of telling people to not be upset. I think he knew his time was coming. He did some amazing things during the latter part of his life and helped raise more than $3 million for pancreatic cancer research. It was one of his proudest achievements. It was just another feather in the cap of the person he was.”
Smullen, who was a nine-time Irish champion jockey, never rode in any races for Walsh but vacationed one winter in South Florida at Palm Meadows Training Center.
“He came over and galloped for a week one time in Palm Meadows,” Walsh said. "He always loved it here. It was on his bucket list to see the Derby. Unfortunately, it didn’t materialize.”
Plans for Maxfield’s return to the races have not been finalized.