Instagrand Diagnosed With Sesamoid Fracture

OXO Equine's grade 2 winner Instagrand sustained a sesamoid fracture during the May 4 Pat Day Mile Stakes Presented by LG & E and KU (G3) at Churchill Downs and will undergo surgery, with a positive prognosis for a return to competition later in the year.

The 3-year-old son of Into Mischief , who cost OXO's Larry Best $1.2 million when bought out of The Gulfstream Sale, Fasig-Tipton's selected 2-year-olds in training sale in South Florida, was an inexplicable eighth in the Pat Day Mile on the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) undercard. The colt was initially sent to Taylor Made Farm before the veterinarians at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital could examine him May 8.

Best said the colt was diagnosed with a left hind lateral apical sesamoid fracture and that surgery will be performed next week by Rood & Riddle's Dr. Alan Ruggles.

The Pat Day Mile was Instagrand's third start after an extended layoff. The colt had shown steady progress this year, finishing third in the March 9 Gotham Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack in his first start back. Making his next start in the April 6 Santa Anita Derby (G1), Instagrand led throughout the 1 1/8-mile dirt test, engaging 2018 champion 2-year-old male Game Winner in the stretch before Roadster caught both late. Instagrand finished third, 2 1/4 lengths behind the winner.

"It was a spectacular performance," Best said of the Santa Anita effort, "and then you look at him in the Pat Day Mile and you have to scratch your head because there was something wrong. He seemed OK (following the May 4 race) but I knew something was wrong. I know the horse and the level he performs at and he was never in the race after the first three-eighths. (Jockey) Javier (Castellano) said he didn't have much horse under him going into the first turn. He obviously was in pain.

"I said let's van him to Rood & Riddle, but he went to Taylor Made from Churchill until we could get him in and the first opportunity to get an assessment was this morning."

Trained by Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, Instagrand was a speedy and precocious 2-year-old, breaking his maiden by 10 lengths at first asking before winning the Aug. 11 Best Pal Stakes (G2) at Del Mar.

"The horse performed at a very high level as a 2-year-old and I took him out of training because I wanted to save him for a longer career," Best said. "He was so hard on himself because he has such speed and he just pounds the track. So I gave him a rest of six or seven months and he came back strong. We put him in the Gotham March 9, it was the first time at a mile. It was the first time at a mile and he got third behind grade 1 winner Mind Control and he recorded 5 on the Ragozin scale, which was impressive.

"In the Santa Anita Derby he had the lead all the way around and I thought he had a good shot at winning and he was just behind Game Winner at the wire and then of course Roadster came flying. It was another good showing because it answered whether he could perform at a two-turn 1 1/8-mile level. He answered that question in a big way, again a single digit Ragozin rating and his fourth triple-digit Equibase speed rating."

With Best choosing not to aim the colt at the May 4 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), he opted for the Pat Day Mile on the undercard. Instagrand has two wins and two thirds from five starts with $304,000 in earnings.

"Obviously he is an elite horse, but we didn't think he was a mile-and-a-quarter horse and we weren't aggressively pursuing the Derby, so we put him in the Pat Day Mile to focus on that distance, and he was injured in the left hind," Best said. 

Best went on to explain that he has received several offers for Instagrand, particularly from stud farms looking to tap into the reservoir of talent being shown by Into Mischief's offspring, but that he is still interested in racing the colt.

"He had shown up in his first two starts after a long layoff and I started to get calls after the Santa Anita Derby about stallion contracts," Best said. "He is a beautiful horse, has a great mind and a big heart and is so fast. We hope for a good recovery, but obviously he is out of commission for a period of time."