Chelokee Breaks Leg In Alysheba

LOUISVILLE, May 2 -- Four days from the second anniversary of Barbaro's victory in the Kentucky Derby, trainer Michael Matz relived the nightmare Friday as his 4-year-old colt Chelokee broke down in the stretch during the Grade III $150,000 Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs.

Chelokee, who won the inaugural Barbaro Stakes last May for Matz at Pimlico, suffered a condylar fracture of the right front leg and was taken to Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington.

Barbaro broke his right hind leg at the start of the Preakness Stakes in 2006 and seven months later was euthanized because of his injuries.

Matz, who scratched his filly Novel Twist out of the final race on the card, could not be reached for comment.

"He appears, on first exam, to have a condylar fracture that then affected the stability in his ankle," Larry Bramlage, the on-track veterinarian at Churchill Downs, said of Chelokee. "That's amazingly very similar to what Barbaro had, only in another leg."

Bramlage said he was trying to reestablish the blood supply to the leg.

Proud Spell Wins Ky. Oaks

With two top 3-year-old fillies in his stable, trainer Larry Jones had one tough but happy decision to make this past week: run them both in the Kentucky Oaks or put one of them in the Kentucky Derby.

Jones, known as "the Cowboy," chose the latter, and Friday before a crowd of 100,046 at Churchill Downs he hit the first half of the Oaks-Derby double as Proud Spell moved to the front at the top of the stretch and pulled away to win the Grade I $500,000 Kentucky Oaks on a sloppy track.

Ridden by Gabe Saez, the favorite in the field of 10 took aim at Maryland-based Bsharpsonata, who was in front turning for home, and shook free under a steady drive. Little Belle, who won the Ashland Stakes in her most recent start, finished second.

Bsharpsonata, trained by Laurel Park-based Tim Salzman, faded to fifth.

The winner ran the 1 1/8 -mile race in 1 minute 50.01 seconds and paid $8.80 to win. Proud Spell, second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in the slop last fall at Monmouth Park, reaffirmed her affinity for the surface.

Now, Jones will attempt to become only the fourth trainer in history to win the Kentucky Derby with a filly when he sends out Eight Belles on Saturday.

"The only reason Eight Belles is running in the Derby was because we felt like we had a really good shot of winning the Oaks without her," Jones said. "We're still alive for tomorrow. You can't get it done if you don't win the first half."

Former Kentucky governor Brereton Jones bred Proud Spell and decided to race her after she appeared too small as a yearling to take to the sales.

Hall of Fame Trainer Dies

Hall of Fame trainer Frank Whiteley Jr., who conditioned the great thoroughbreds Ruffian and Forego, died at age 93.

Whiteley, who was born in Centreville and began racing horses at Maryland tracks, won the 1965 Preakness with Tom Rolfe and two years later trained Horse of the Year Damascus.

In 1975, perhaps Whiteley's greatest horse, the undefeated filly Ruffian, broke down in a nationally televised match race with Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure.