Siphonic Has Sore Ankle, Will Miss Triple Crown

Two months ago, he was considered one of the favorites for the Kentucky Derby, but now Siphonic is headed for a long rest. The Hollywood Park-based 3-year-old colt will miss the Derby as well as the rest of the Triple Crown races.

After two lackluster races at Santa Anita, the most recent a third-place finish as the 2-5 favorite in Sunday’s San Felipe Stakes, trainer David Hofmans said that Siphonic has a sore right front ankle. Siphonic apparently jammed the ankle in the San Felipe, a race he led for a mile before getting beat by six lengths.

“It’s nothing serious, but we’re going to play it safe and avoid anything more serious happening,” Hofmans said. “We could have gone on, but it’s not worth taking a chance. It’s very frustrating, but it’s the right thing to do.”

Siphonic will be sent to the Temecula farm of his owners, John and Jerry Amerman. He is expected to return to training in a month or two and will be prepared for a late-season campaign.

Last year, Siphonic won the Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity at Churchill Downs and the Hollywood Futurity, and in between finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He finished second, behind Breeders’ Cup winner Johannesburg, in the Eclipse Award voting for best 2-year-old male.

Jerry Bailey, who rode Siphonic in the Breeders’ Cup for the first time, thought enough of the colt to leave his Florida base twice to ride him at Santa Anita this year. In his first start as a 3-year-old, Siphonic ran second to Labamta Babe in the Santa Catalina, beaten by 51/2 lengths but compromised by a poor start in which he almost fell.

Labamta Babe is also injured, and Siphonic’s defection further weakens a Derby crop that was considered thin to begin with.

“You could have taken the seventh-best 3-year-old last year at this time, and he would have been the leader this year,” said John Ward Jr., who trains Booklet, the fourth-place finisher in last Saturday’s Florida Derby.

The undefeated Johannesburg, an Irish-based colt, isn’t scheduled to make his 3-year-old debut until April 6 in England, and stateside there is still much sorting out to do. The newest contenders are San Felipe winner Medaglia D’Oro, bought by Edmund Gann and trainer Bobby Frankel after Labamta Babe went to the sidelines, and Mayakovsky and Saarland, who were 1-2 in the Gotham at Aqueduct.

Medaglia D’Oro is scheduled to run against Mayakovsky and Saarland in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 13, which leaves Came Home as the favorite for the Santa Anita Derby on April 6. Came Home worked five furlongs Friday in 1:003/5. Other Santa Anita probables are Yougottawanna, Danthebluegrassman, Easy Grades, Fonz’s, U S S Tinosa and Lusty Latin.