Friend Or Foe Gets Time Off

Chester and Mary Broman’s Friend Or Foe, winner of last year’s Empire Classic and most recently fourth in the Grade 1 Whitney Invitational, likely will get some preventative time off due to a slight ankle issue.

“I just had to make a decision on him,” said trainer John Kimmel. “He has some filling in one of his ankles and a small area of fiber damage on the medial suspensory branch. It’s one of those things that’s so minor, [that you could] stop or go. I think in this case, I’m probably going to be conservative like I always am and shut him down for maybe 60 days.”

Friend Or Foe, who at one point had been considered for this weekend’s Grade 1 Woodward and was also a possibility for the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on October 1, will instead target a winter campaign.

“It’s so small, but it’s like the little crack in the dyke,” Kimmel said. “He’s fine, and I’m sure we can run him, but I think that those little things, when they get bigger, they’re very tough to manage. I think that that’s probably the smartest thing to do. I’ll bring him back at Palm Meadows, maybe, and get him ready for a winter campaign. It’s disappointing.”