By Ron Mitchell
J. Paul Reddam’s Square Eddie will not run in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) trainer Doug O’Neill told The Blood-Horse early April 28.
The son of Smart Strike, who has been plagued with sore shins while on the Derby trail, worked a half-mile at Churchill Downs April 26 under exercise rider Tony Romero in :50 1/5.
“There was a little heat in his left shin,” O’Neill said outside Barn 17 Tuesday morning. “He’s walking sound and looks fine, but we decided to err on the side of caution. It’s extremely disappointing. If the race were a month from now it would be a different story.
“I had a lengthy conversation with Paul Reddam yesterday and he decided it was best,” O’Neill said.
Square Eddie began is racing career in England and was purchased by Reddam in mid-season. In the U.S., the pint-sized colt was one of the top 2-year-olds of 2008, winning the Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity (gr. I) at Keeneland and running second to champion Midshipman in the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I). This season, Square Eddie ran second in the San Rafael (gr. II) at Santa Anita, and in his final Derby prep, ran third in the Coolmore Lexington Stakes (gr. II) over the Polytrack at Keeneland.
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