Preakness Is Still Possible for A.P. Indy

A.P. Indy, scratched from the Kentucky Derby on the morning of the race last Saturday, will work out at Churchill Downs Friday, and trainer Neil Drysdale has not ruled out the Preakness, the middle Triple Crown race, at Pimlico on May 16.

“Everything depends on the horse,” Drysdale said Tuesday. “He will tell us. We’ll know better after the workout.”

A.P. Indy, a $2.9-million yearling owned by Japanese real estate developer Tomonori Tsurumaki, won the Santa Anita Derby and came to Louisville on a five-race winning streak. He would have been one of the Derby favorites behind Arazi but suffered a stone bruise on his left front foot Friday, and when the injury didn’t respond to treatment, he was declared out of the race.

This was the longshot Derby, with Lil E. Tee winning at 16-1 and other outsiders, Casual Lies and Dance Floor, finishing second and third, respectively.

A.P. Indy had beaten Casual Lies in the Santa Anita Derby, and he outran Dance Floor last year while winning the Hollywood Futurity.

“I don’t know what our horse would have done in the Derby,” said Drysdale, still declining to join the theorists who are suggesting that A.P. Indy might have won.

A.P. Indy, who was lame last Friday afternoon, had no abscess in his sore hoof, just a discoloration, and the bruise is being treated by soaking the foot in a hot tub.

He walked the shed row on Monday and returned to the track for a trot Tuesday. The Seattle Slew colt will gallop today and Thursday. Drysdale isn’t sure what distance he’ll work the horse Friday.

A.P. Indy has been fitted with bar shoes on both front feet. Bar shoes are used to protect hoofs from excessive pressure. There is nothing wrong with A.P. Indy’s right front foot, but a bar shoe was put on it to balance the shoe on the opposite side.

If A.P. Indy doesn’t run in the Preakness, he would be prepared for the Belmont Stakes in New York on June 6. Not having run since the Santa Anita Derby on April 4, A.P. Indy would need a prep race, and Drysdale is considering the Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park on May 24.