Midshipman Out of Derby Contention
Champion two-year-old Midshipman has been injured and will miss the Triple Crown, according to a statement Sunday on the website of his owner, Godolphin Racing. Last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner has suffered a minor soft tissue injury in his left foreleg during routine training at the Al Quoz exercise facility in Dubai. He was training for his 3-year-old debut at Nad Al Sheba last Thursday in the Al Bastikiya.
“It is a huge shame as he had been pleasing us enormously and was ready to make his reappearance next Thursday,” Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford said in the statement. “He is scheduled to return to America in early April, and hopefully he will be back on the track later in the season.”
Now he’ll be taken out of training until late summer if things go well with the recovery but will still be shipped to the U.S. in the spring. Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum will lose his best chance to win the Kentucky Derby, a feat he’s been trying to buy for a long time. His hopes will now rest mainly on the shoulders of Desert Party after last year’s juvenile Eclipse runner-up Vineyard Haven faded to finish fourth in his 3-year-old debut Feb. 12 at Nad Al Sheba in the UAE 2000 Guineas.
As a 2-year-old Midshipman raced for trainer Bob Baffert in California, finishing second in the Grade 1 Norfolk and winning the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity before his BC Juvenile victory. Touted as the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby, his value will have to be determined at a later date.
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