Hero Status breezed a half mile in :47.20 this morning at Santa Anita Park under Tyler Baze. Your 5-year-old gelding traveled comfortably and galloped out with plenty of enthusiasm. All remains well and Hero Status will continue on a weekly work schedule until Del Mar.
We are pleased to report that Hero Status has remained in good physical order out of his comeback race on Friday. It is pretty remarkable given such a severe stumble but we are thankful he is 100% ok and thankful for Flavien Prat doing an incredible job staying on and keeping him up. It also goes to show Hero Status’ athleticism.
Above you will find an updated copy of his past performances in addition to the race replay. We’ll be back with more once he gets back into a steady training routine.
Hero Status breezed another solo three furlongs in :37 this morning over the Santa Anita main track, galloping out in :50 and change on our team’s watch. Our son of Flatter was never asked for much in the stretch but traveled comfortably under his exercise rider. Hero Status changed leads on cue in the stretch and did it easily in the final stages. Everything remains in good order and our 4-year-old will breeze a true half-mile next week.
Hero Status remained on schedule this morning at Santa Anita Park, breezing his second three-eighths in :37.40 under exercise rider Jonathan Hernandez. Your gelding traveled nicely through the lane, showcasing his long stride under no urging from his rider. Next week, we should see Hero Status progress to a half-mile.
Hero Status is enjoying time off in his paddock at Silver Springs since being gelded in early August. Your son of Flatter will remain on paddock turnout for the time being and will be re-checked in early September. At that time, we will have a clearer idea of what the plan will be for your 4-year-old.
Hero Status had his 60-day recheck by Dr. Sutter this morning and will be gelded tomorrow morning. Our team stopped in to check on him this morning and he continues to look great in the flesh. We will follow up later this week following his gelding procedure.
We are pleased to report that Hero Status had a successful surgery on Friday, at the Kentucky Equine Hospital. Dr. Wes Sutter was pleased with how everything went and has recommended 30 days of stall rest followed by 30 days in a small paddock. He will be able to start hand-walking after two weeks, once the sutures are removed, and will have follow-up X-rays in 60 days to insure the proper healing has taken place.
As Hero Status began on turnout, the Silver Springs staff noticed your colt was not moving fluidly. After further examination by Dr. Wes Sutter, he observed he was demonstrating short strides up front when in hand at a jog and was positive to flexion in his front left fetlock. Due to this valuation, a set of X-rays were taken of both his knees and ankles. Upon review of the films, there were two findings. The most prominent of the two was a dorsal P-1 fragmentation found in his front left ankle. In hindsight, this is a small chip but it does require surgical removal. Secondly, a small chip in his left carpus was also spotted and it was recommended to be surgically removed as we are already removing the chip in his fetlock. The right limb was clean.
As you can hear from the video above, he has a good prognosis and will have surgery scheduled this upcoming week. This surgery will require the planned gelding procedure to go on hold as once he is gelded, movement is a key aspect of the recovery. We will handle this one step at a time and will follow up once the surgery has taken place.
Hero Status was fourth in today’s Grade 3 Oaklawn Mile. The 4-year-old colt broke sharply under Christian Torres and maintained his position along the inside as long as he could going into the first turn before settling in the second pack down the backstretch behind the long shot pacesetter #6 Atoka.
The early fractions were quick (22.42 and 45.56) but Hero Status kept his position as the field went into the far turn while being restricted to the rail due to the constant pressure on his outside. Unfortunately, the long-shot pacesetter and rabbit had nowhere to go but backed right into Hero Status causing him to go from third to almost last. He ran on with a steady rally in the stretch to regain and hold onto fourth.
Trainer Robertino Diodoro felt your colt was definitely compromised some from the trip, though likely not being in winning contention, he may have been able to be in contention for third with his momentum not stopping. We’ll regroup and see how he exits this race to determine our next move. Looking ahead there is a third-level allowance option on Apr. 28 at Keeneland going one mile and one-eighth which would be a logical option if he bounces out well.
Hero Status exited his fourth-place finish in the Oaklawn Mile in good physical order. He received an 87 Beyer Speed Figure, a slight improvement from his figure in the Razorback (a copy of his updated lifetime past performances can be seen above).
Pending all things continue well over the next two days, Hero Status will ship to Keeneland on Tuesday and target the previously mentioned third-level allowance race on Apr. 28. With that news we will also look to have Hero Status participate in our Paddock Parade event on Friday, April 7th at Keeneland. Click here for details.