Big Brown has slight crack on left front hoof

The unbeaten Triple Crown contender is expected to run in the Belmont Stakes.

NEW YORK (AP) — Big Brown’s perfect path has its first bump.

The unbeaten Triple Crown contender has a slight crack on his left front hoof, although trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. was confident the injury won’t keep his colt from running in the Belmont Stakes in less than two weeks.

However, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner has missed two days of training at Belmont Park, and will miss at least several more while being treated by hoof specialist Ian McKinlay for a five-eighths of an inch long quarter crack on the inside of his left heel.

“We’re all concerned because there’s a big race coming up,” Dutrow said outside his barn. “But Ian has us pretty well relaxed. He’s telling me it’s nothing and he’ll be fine in a few days.”

Unlike the two-week turnaround between the Derby and the Preakness, there’s a three-week break before the Belmont on June 7. Good thing, too, especially if the injury heals by Thursday as Dutrow is hoping.

“If it was two weeks we would be nervous, but this way I’m as cool as we can be,” Dutrow said. “It’s bad that this happened, but it’s good that it happened at this time.”

McKinlay has repaired injuries much more severe before big races, allowing Touch Gold to fight off a leg injury from the 1997 Preakness and go on to win the Belmont and spoil Silver Charm’s Triple try in 1997.

This will be a much simpler task, he said.

“This is a very, very minor crack,” McKinlay assured. “We will put a set of wires in, stitch it up and then patch it.”

Best case scenario, he says, could allow Big Brown to return to the track Thursday.

“The worst case is he doesn’t make the race,” Dutrow said. “The horse is in great shape. He doesn’t know anything is wrong with him. When you touch it and put pressure on it, he’s going to give. But the worst possible thing that could happen is he doesn’t make the race, and that will only hurt human beings. Not him. He’s laying back, not worried about anything.”

Dutrow said Big Brown continues to be taken for walks inside his barn, and is feeling no pain.

“If the race was today, yesterday or tomorrow, it would not be an issue,” he said.

A quarter crack is a vertical crack in the hoof wall between the toe and heel of the hoof, usually extending into the coronary band, where the hoof meets the skin of the leg.

For the most part, the injury is not considered serious and is fairly common. Healing time can range from a few days to a few months, depending on the severity of the crack.