It’s Becoming Less Than Classic With Loss of Another Top Horse

A few days ago, owner John Murphy was saying that Formal Gold was the gift of a lifetime. Exercise rider David Nunn was saying that the 4-year-old colt was training so well that no one could beat him.

Now Formal Gold won’t even be running in the $4-million Breeders’ Cup Classic next Saturday at Hollywood Park.

A week ago, the favorite in the star-crossed Classic was Gentlemen, but he was taken out because of a virus. That made Formal Gold the favorite, but he suffered a condylar fracture of the right hind leg in a gallop around the track Thursday.

“I’m blown away,” trainer Bill Perry told the Daily Racing Form. “I’m still numb. He was doing as good as he’s ever done. I’m not sure I’ll even be able to watch the race. This is the most bitter pill that I’ve ever had to swallow.”

The injury isn’t life-threatening, and after Formal Gold recovers from surgery, which is scheduled this weekend, there’s a possibility he might race again next year. Condylar fractures, which are more common in front legs, occur in a ball-and-socket joint at the bottom of the cannon bone in the lower legs. They can be repaired by inserting screws that hold things together while the bone fuses.

With Formal Gold sidelined, Roxy Roxborough, the Las Vegas linemaker, has made Skip Away the 3-2 favorite for the Classic. Skip Away was outrun by Formal Gold in four of six races this year.

Other early odds on the Classic are Touch Gold, 8-5, and Behrens and Deputy Commander, both 6-1. Other probables in the 1 1/4-mile race are Down The Isle, Dowty, Savinio and the undefeated but lightly regarded Whiskey Wisdom.

Other horses eligible for the Classic are Honor Glide, Big Sky Chester and Taiki Blizzard, but they were cross-entered for grass races on the Breeders’ Cup card.

Formal Gold had galloped 1 1/2 miles at Hollywood Park on Thursday and seemed to be walking fine as he came off the track. While he was getting his bath at the barn, handlers noticed that he was favoring the injured leg. X-rays revealed the break.

“I thought he was going to run a big race,” Perry said. “And if he won, I thought they might make him horse of the year.”

Murphy, a steel contractor from Quincy, Mass., bought Formal Gold in 1995, when he was an unraced 2-year-old, for $75,000. He is a son of Black Tie Affair, who won the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 1991 and was voted horse of the year.

“He looked like somebody had hit him in the knee with a baseball bat,” Murphy said. “Nobody wanted to bid on him because they thought he had a bowed tendon.”

Sore shins knocked Formal Gold out of the Triple Crown races in 1996, but that July he won his first race by 18 3/4 lengths at Monmouth Park. He won four in a row, finished second twice and then ran fifth in last year’s Classic at Woodbine in Canada.

This year he started out with a win over Skip Away in the Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park. Then, during a four-week stretch, he traveled almost 20,000 miles and ran poorly in the Santa Anita Handicap and the Dubai World Cup.

Since then, he has run sharply six times, winning the Brooklyn Handicap at Belmont Park and twice beating Skip Away while winning his last two starts, the Iselin Handicap at Monmouth and the Woodward at Belmont. Formal Gold has earned $1.5 million, with eight wins, four seconds and one third in 16 starts.

Perry had been commuting from New England to Hollywood Park to supervise Formal Gold’s training. He had been scheduled to return to California today to supervise a Sunday workout.

Two of the remaining Classic contenders worked out at Hollywood Park Friday. Touch Gold, with jockey Chris McCarron aboard, worked a mile in 1:38 1/5, and Deputy Commander, ridden by Corey Nakatani, was clocked in 1:38.

Horse Racing Notes

The $1-million Juvenile Fillies lost one of its favorites when Silver Maiden was scratched because of an infection. She was undefeated in five starts. . . . Desert King, the Irish Derby winner, is also ailing and won’t run in the $2-million Turf. Desert King ran strong seconds in his last two starts to Pilsudski, last year’s Turf winner, and Singspiel, who will be favored this year.