https://www.drf.com/news/slow-down-a...e-ankle-injury
Slow Down Andy will miss Breeders' Cup due to ankle filling
Brad Free | Oct 05, 2023
ARCADIA, Calif. – Slow Down Andy, emphatic winner of the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes last weekend at Santa Anita, will have to wait until next year for another shot at the Breeders’ Cup, trainer Doug O’Neill said Thursday.
The good news is owners Paul and Zilla Reddam plan to race the son of Nyquist next season at age 5. O’Neill said the colt’s setback is minor, though untimely.
“He came out of the [Awesome Again] with a little bit of filling in an ankle,” O’Neill said. “He was sound on it, but had a little bit of filling. We X-rayed him, and he X-rayed clean. We followed up with a nuke scan, and he’s got some heat in the ankle.”
Expectations are Slow Down Andy, the leading money earner sired by Reddam-owned and O’Neill-trained Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, will return next season as good as ever.
“The protocol is 60 days at the farm, and he’ll be 100 percent perfect,” O’Neill said, acknowledging disappointment the colt will miss the BC Classic. “We’re all bummed. We so badly wanted to give Andy an opportunity against the best of the best in the Breeders’ Cup, but we’ll have to wait to next year.”