Kentucky Derby 2023: Extra Añejo recovers from surgery

Extra Añejo, the second individual choice in the most recent Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool, is out of training as he recovers from surgery.

David Fiske, racing manager for owner Winchell Thoroughbreds, told Horse Racing Nation Monday that the Into Mischief colt had "a little issue with a hind ankle."

Fiske didn't have a timetable for Extra Añejo's return. "After his next checkup and everyone pronounces him OK to go back into training."

Daily Racing Form reported that he could be back in training in January.

"He has a small chip in a hind ankle," trainer Steve Asmussen told DRF. "It's not ideal timing. The prognosis is good, but it’s not the timing anybody wants.”

Extra Añejo, out of the Hard Spun mare Superioritycomplex, was purchased as a yearling for $1.35 million. In his only start, he won a maiden special weight at Keeneland by 9 1/2 lengths in October.

In the Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool that ended Nov. 27, he closed with odds of 13-1, behind only Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Forte at 10-1 and all other 2-year-old males at 4-5. In futures wagering at Caesars Sportsbook Nevada, he was the fifth choice at 18-1 Monday.

DRF reported that Extra Añejo had been expected to make his next start in the Gun Runner Stakes at Fair Grounds on Dec. 26.

In the meantime, he is recuperating at a rehab center in Central Kentucky, Fiske said.

"He's in a stall next to Epicenter," who was injured in the Breeders' Cup Classic. "So they're both talking to one another."