Statement from Trainer Pat Byrne on Late Scratch of Favored Almost Famous from Kentucky Jockey Club

Nov 30, 2013

“He popped a “stone gravel” – a stone bruise. It popped out of his coronet band yesterday. He’s sound on it and we were able to treat it topically. He was fine this morning. The state vet was here and she thought he was sound. But I know he’s not quite 100 percent, and as the day has gone on some infection has been building up in the foot. It’s the left-hind foot, and on the outside of the coronet band the abscess has broken, but the abscess is still there.

“So we’ve got a horse that’s not a 100 percent and we’ve decided we can’t take a risk and run him. It’s just bad timing, but unfortunately that’s the game.

“It’s a timing thing – the bottom line is it’s a timing thing. It’s the kind of thing that happens all the time. If it happened last week or next week, we’d be fine.”