Derby Favorite Out of the Race

Declan’s Moon, winner of all five of his races and a consensus favorite for this year’s Kentucky Derby, will miss the race and the rest of the Triple Crown series because of a displaced bone chip in his left knee.

Mace Siegel, who owns Declan’s Moon with his daughter Samantha, said Friday that the Maryland-bred gelding would undergo surgery next weekend. Siegel said that Declan’s Moon was expected to recover and resume his career, perhaps by August. The Derby is May 7 and the other Triple Crown races, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, are run in the five weeks after that.

Declan’s Moon, trained by Ron Ellis, won the Del Mar and Hollywood Futurities last year and was voted the best 2-year-old male in North America. He fortified his standing last Saturday with an impressive victory in the Santa Catalina Stakes at Santa Anita, but came out of the race with heat in his knee. X-rays showed the injury.

So, the so-called 2-year-old jinx holds up for another year. Since Spectacular Bid was voted the Eclipse Award for 2-year-olds in 1978 and won the Derby the next year, no juvenile champion has won it. And with the departure of Declan’s Moon, half of those 26 champions haven’t even run in the Derby. The best Derby finishes of these juvenile standouts were seconds by Forty Niner in 1988 and Easy Goer in 1989.

With Declan’s Moon on the sideline, the Derby turns into a grab bag that is aching for a new favorite. There will be at least two prep races every Saturday until April 16, starting today with the Louisiana Derby at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans and the El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows in San Mateo.

Afleet Alex, second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last year, has won once in 2005 and is scheduled to run twice more, at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., before the Derby. Wilko, the Breeders’ Cup winner, was beaten by Declan’s Moon in the Hollywood Futurity and will make his debut as a 3-year-old in the San Felipe at Santa Anita next Saturday. Sweet Catomine, a filly who could join the Derby trail, is running Sunday in the Santa Anita Oaks.

Samantha Siegel, paying $125,000, bought Declan’s Moon at a yearling auction in Timonium, Md.

Mace Siegel, who has been racing horses for 40 years, seemed to be philosophical about the horse’s injury.

“That’s horse racing,” he said. “You have to be prepared all the time for things like this. You know what I like to say: If you run a colt in the Derby and win, it could mean a lot in the breeding shed later. If you run a gelding, it’s just another $2-million race. I told Ron, ‘Just don’t let him get fat when he gets back from the surgery.’ ”

Siegel said that Wayne McIlwraith would perform the arthroscopic surgery on Declan’s Moon at Los Alamitos and the horse would recuperate at Ellis’ barn at Hollywood Park.

Ellis had planned to run Declan’s Moon only one more time before the Kentucky Derby -- in the Santa Anita Derby on April 9.

“If the horse had been a colt, we might have still run him in the Santa Anita Derby,” Siegel said. “I think he could have won, and then we would have built up his stud value, no matter what happened after that. But because he’s a gelding, we want to be careful and have him around for the long haul.”

Three veterinarians read Declan’s Moon’s X-rays and came to the same conclusion.

“What he has is minor,” Ellis said. “It’s just the start of an injury. But if we continued to train and race him, we would be risking cartilage damage. You only get one shot at the Derby, and this shows how difficult it is. Everything must go perfectly. It’s a tough game, this Derby business.”

Thursday was Ellis’ 45th birthday and learning of the injury to Declan’s Moon made it less than a happy one. Still, he has another Derby candidate in Don’t Get Mad, owned by Wayne Hughes. Don’t Get Mad, second to Fusaichi Rock Star in the San Vicente on Feb. 13, is scheduled to run, for only the fourth time, in the San Felipe.

“I think [the San Vicente] woke him up,” Ellis said. “He’s still learning. He has a true mile-and-a-quarter pedigree.”

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Sweet Catomine drew the inside post against six rivals in the Santa Anita Oaks. Outside her, in post-position order, will be Memorette, She Sings, Feel The Heat, Guaranteed Victory, Charming Colleen and Cream Donut Keith. Sweet Catomine might also run in the Santa Anita Derby.

Tyler Baze won the fifth race Friday with Mashiko, for his 1,000th victory. Baze, 22, won his first race at Santa Anita on Oct. 31, 1999. He’s the meet’s leading rider with 46 wins, even though he went winless in 49 consecutive races before winning one Thursday.

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Kentucky Derby Contenders

The 131st running of the Kentucky Derby is May 7 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., and will be televised by Channel 4.

*--* Horse Trainer Jockey Afleet Alex Tim Ritchey John Velazquez Bandini Todd Pletcher John Velazquez Fusaichi Rock Star Bob Baffert David Flores Giacomo John Shirreffs Mike Smith Greater Good Robert Holthus John McKee High Fly Nick Zito Jerry Bailey Proud Accolade Todd Pletcher John Velazquez Rockport Harbor John Servis Stewart Elliott Roman Ruler Bob Baffert Jerry Bailey Wilko Craig Dollase Corey Nakatani Closing Argument Kiaran McLaughlin Cornelio Velasquez Galloping Grocer Dominic Schettino Aaron Gryder Spanish Chestnut Patrick Biancone Gary Stevens Scipion Patrick Biancone Gary Stevens Sun King Nick Zito TBA Don’t Get Mad Ron Ellis Tyler Baze

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Note: Some jockeys named on more than one horse.