Snow Chief to Undergo Operation : Removal of a Bone Chip Will Sideline Colt for Rest of Year

Snow Chief, the top 3-year-old colt, will undergo surgery Tuesday for the removal of a small bone chip in the right knee that will sideline the horse for the rest of the year.

Snow Chief, who has earned $1.8 million this year for owners Ben Rochelle and Carl Grinstead and who has career purses of $2.7 million, which ranks him sixth on the money list, galloped 1 1/2 miles for trainer Mel Stute Thursday morning at Hollywood Park. But afterward, routine X-rays showed that the Preakness Stakes winner had a bone chip.

It left Grinstead, the managing partner, with three options: He could run Snow Chief three or four more times, then retire him to stud; he could retire him to stud without operating, or he could have the surgery done with the likelihood that the colt would be able to return to the races as a 4-year-old next year.

Grinstead, the Chula Vista man who bred Snow Chief and then sold a 50% interest in all of his horses to Rochelle in 1984, had always intended to keep Snow Chief on the track as a 4-year-old. So Greg Ferraro will perform the arthroscopic surgery at Hollywood Park, and Snow Chief will need four to five months to recuperate.

“If we continued running him, he might take a step that could ruin him for life,” Grinstead said. “I don’t feel so hot right now. This is disappointing, but I had good luck with Sari’s Dreamer after he had a bad knee, and if Snow Chief can run, he’ll be back next year.”

Sari’s Dreamer, the horse that Rochelle wanted the most when he bought into Grinstead’s entire stable, twice had knee surgery. After the second operation, Sari’s Dreamer was sidelined six months, returning in 1984 to win the Mervyn LeRoy Stakes at Hollywood and to finish third in both the Californian and the Hollywood Gold Cup.

Snow Chief, who had not left training since last summer, was on a roller-coaster year even before the knee injury. After wins in the Florida and Santa Anita derbies, the California-bred went into the Kentucky Derby with a five-race winning streak, but he finished 11th as the 2-1 favorite.

Two weeks later, Snow Chief redeemed himself, winning the Preakness by four lengths as Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand finished second.

When Snow Chief won the $1-million Jersey Derby eight days after the Preakness, Grinstead wanted to run in the Belmont Stakes, but Stute noticed a “small knot” on the colt’s right front ankle, and the horse was returned to Hollywood Park.

Grinstead and Stute were severely criticized in Minnesota after indicating they would run Snow Chief in the St. Paul Derby at Canterbury Downs, then changing their minds. When last Saturday’s Silver Screen Handicap was boosted from a $100,000 race to a $400,000 purse, Snow Chief remained at Hollywood Park, only to run third, 11 lengths back, as Melair, the undefeated filly, won the stake.

Stute said Friday that Snow Chief probably ran in the Silver Screen with the bone chip. The trainer said the chip and the bump that he spotted on Snow Chief’s leg after the Jersey Derby were not related. “He’s never taken a bad step and never shown any lameness,” Stute said.

Snow Chief, who hadn’t been X-rayed since he was a 2-year-old, was X-rayed Thursday because Grinstead was hoping to put together a breeding syndication after the colt’s next scheduled start, in the $300,000 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park July 26. Snow Chief’s owners were aiming at a $1-million bonus that is offered to a horse that sweeps the Jersey Derby, the Haskell and the Pegagus Stakes, the last one at the Meadowlands in September.

“This ruins all our plans,” Stute said. “But at least, it looks as though he’ll be able to come back and run next year.”

Many horses successfully return from surgery similar to Snow Chief’s. Spend a Buck, who had a chip removed from his knee as a 2-year-old, won last year’s Kentucky Derby and was voted Horse of the Year. This year’s Belmont Stakes winner, Danzig Connection, missed two months of training after knee surgery last year.

The loss of Snow Chief will complicate the battle for the 3-year-old championship. The Haskell was expected to be a showdown between Snow Chief and Ogygian, who after missing the Triple Crown races because of arthroscopic surgery of his own, has emerged as a divisional contender with three straight wins. In his only start since the Belmont win, Danzig Connection was unable to beat older horses in the Suburban Handicap. Ferdinand, third in the Belmont, is likely to spend the rest of the year running on grass.

So when the Eclipse Awards voters fill out their ballots in December, they will be looking at Snow Chief’s 1986 record of six wins in eight starts. Last year, a half-season of accomplishments was good enough. Spend a Buck won five out of seven starts and didn’t run in a race after August.