Injuries Knock Pair Out of Preakness : Racing: Champagneforashley breaks a bone in his leg; Pleasant Tap still bothered by strained tendon.

The field for the Preakness dwindled to nine today, as two horses with hopes of stopping Unbridled’s Triple Crown bid were sidelined by injury.

Champagneforashley, the New York-bred who won his first five career starts but passed up the Derby at Churchill Downs, sustained a broken sesamoid bone in his right front ankle while galloping this morning.

The other early casualty was Pleasant Tap, who will miss Saturday’s middle jewel of the Triple Crown with a strained tendon sheath in his left front leg. Pleasant Tap ran third in the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago.

Trainer Howard Tesher said there was a chance that Champagneforashley’s racing career was over.

Veterinarian Dr. Jim Stewart said X-rays showed “a clean break . . . a significant one.” If his recuperation goes well, Stewart said Champagneforashley might be able to resume training in six months.

While horses have come back from sesamoid breaks, it was such an injury that ended Ruffian’s racing career and forced her to be destroyed in the 1975 match race against Foolish Pleasure.

Pleasant Tap’s trainer, Chris Speckert, said the horse could resume training in about two months, but such injuries often are career-threatening.

“He’s a good horse, and we’ve got to take care of him,” Speckert said. “We didn’t exactly win the Kentucky Derby, so there’s not as much pressure on him to go on.”

Champagneforashley, who finished third in the Wood Memorial before skipping the Derby, was the 6-1 fourth choice to win the Preakness. Champagneforashley is owned by Howard Kaskell, Robert Baker and Leon Feinbloom and was to have been ridden by Jacinto Vasquez.

Champagneforashley was X-rayed this morning, then had his right foreleg placed in a bucket of ice water. He was given a shot of the analgesic Butazolidin and a tranquilizer.

“You hate to see this happen, but things like this do happen in horse racing,” Tesher said. “There’s not much you can say or do. I feel so bad for the owners.

“But, hey, this happens in all sports. It happened to Orel Hershiser.”

Tesher said Champagneforashley was a long-striding horse, “and he probably overreached and hit that area.”

Pleasant Tap, owned by Buckland Farm, was an early 8-1 fifth choice. Kent Desormeaux was Pleasant Tap’s regular rider but became available to ride Kentucky Jazz after the injury.

“It’s a matter of stopping now when we still have a racehorse,” Speckert said of Pleasant Tap. “He’ll go back to Buckland for about 1 1/2 months. It’s not really that serious, but we want to stop now before it is.”

Speckert said Pleasant Tap may be able to begin racing again in two months.