Girvin Battling Quarter Crack, KY Derby Not Ruled Out

Brad Grady's Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) winner Girvin is currently battling a quarter crack in his right front foot, but his connections are still hopeful the son of Tale of Ekati   can run in the May 6 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1), trainer Joe Sharp said April 27.

Sharp said the quarter crack manifested while the colt was still at Churchill Downs' Trackside Training facility and was the catalyst behind the decision to move Girvin last week from that base to Keeneland, which has an all-weather synthetic training track. Since being in Lexington, Sharp said Girvin has been treated by Dr. Raul Bras at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, where he was fitted with a special bar shoe and has utilized both the hyperbaric chamber and the swimming facilities at the Kentucky Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center.

Girvin has not trained on the track since jogging Monday—a day in which he was originally scheduled to breeze—but Sharp said he plans to work the colt Saturday should the foot continue to show improvement.

"He's very sound on it now. It's just one of those deals where ... we were just monitoring it. And every quarter crack is different," Sharp said. "This one threw us for a little bit of a turn and we expected it be routine. And obviously ... (with the Kentucky Derby), the last thing I wanted to do was throw up a red flag any earlier than needed. 

"I wanted to see how it was going to go. I wanted to see which way it was going to go before I had to get asked about what I thought if we could make (the Derby). We are planning on breezing, and as long as he's able to breeze and come out of it well, he'll run in the Derby. But if he's not sound enough to make the breeze, we're not going to go into the Derby not having breezed in two weeks."

Girvin has not worked since turning in a four-furlong breeze at Trackside April 15. The colt did pop a quarter crack in his left hind in January, but that foot has not been an issue since, according to Sharp.

"When he popped the last quarter crack, he never missed a day. He was never sore on it. He was great," Sharp said. "The long and short of it is the (current quarter crack) wasn't where we wanted it. On Tuesday we weren't happy with it. So we took him to Raul Bras at Rood & Riddle (and) we utilized KESMARC's hyperbaric chamber. 

"He's shipped every day and (Wednesday) we just wanted him to have a day to chill—let him graze, have a very light day, just let him relax at the barn. And today he was way better. (Thursday) was the first day he swam at KESMARC."

Sharp said he is still deciding whether to train Girvin at Keeneland April 28 or have him swim one more day. "I'm probably leaning towards swimming," he added. 

"We've had the best team possible on it," Sharp said of Girvin's quarter crack. "The bottom line (is), if he's right we'll go for (the Kentucky Derby). And if he's not, I have a feeling we'll be back there again some day."