By DRF.com
ARCADIA, Calif. (Oct. 5, 2023) — California-bred 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 breeders-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.”
Slow Down Andy this fall returned to peak form, earning a 101 Beyer Speed Figure and a fees-paid berth in the BC Classic winning his first Grade 1 in the Awesome Again under regular rider Mario Gutierrez. Third in the 2022 BC Dirt Mile at Keeneland, Slow Down Andy would have been a live longshot in the BC Classic over his home track.
O’Neill said that the Reddams, who also bred Slow Down Andy, took the news in typical classy fashion.
“Paul and Zilla, just doing the right thing by Andy and all their horses, giving him 60 days off, and he’ll be perfect,” O’Neill said.
Slow Down Andy will rehab at Ocean Breeze Ranch in Bonsall, Calif. The 4-year-old has won five races and $1,276,000 from 14 starts.
The defection of Slow Down Andy from the BC Classic softens the pace scenario of the race somewhat. Slow Down Andy won the Awesome Again leading wire to wire.