Kentucky Derby Favorite "Dialed In" Likely to Miss the Rest of the Year

Robert La Penta’s Florida Derby winner and Kentucky Derby favorite Dialed In will have surgery next week on his right knee and will be taken out of training indefinitely.

Trainer Nick Zito said in a statement Friday to the New York Racing Association the colt had clean X-rays after the Preakness but now shows a chip in the knee.

Dialed In entered the Triple Crown contender scene after breaking his maiden impressively last November at Churchill Downs. In his next race he ran down his competition en route to winning the Grade 3 Holy Bull in Gulfstream Park on January 30.

Unable to find a suitable Kentucky Derby prep race for Dialed In, Zito entered the colt in an optional claimer against older horses and finished a close half-length second-place to stablemate Equestrio.

Next time out, in the Florida Derby, Dialed In bounced with a courageous performance, winning by a head over eventual Preakness winner Shackleford. This performance had his trainer Nick Zito in tears and stating that this horse was a “gift from God”.

The son of Mineshaft out of the Storm Cat mare Miss Doolittle was the 5-1 favorite in the Kentucky Derby where he finished a disappointing eight. Zito, pointed to the way the race was ran as the key factor of his colt’s performance and pointed him to the Preakness.

Since he had won the Holy Bull and The Florida Derby, on May 21 in the Preakness, he was eligible for a $5 million bonus. He closed late to finish fourth to the winner Shackleford, and has not run since.

The 3-year-old was supposed to run in the Travers Stakes on Aug. 27 at Saratoga, but following this development this is not likely to happen, and it’s very possible that he misses the remainder of the year.