‘One step at a time’; as recovery goes for Somelikeithotbrown

Multiple stakes winner Somelikeithotbrown, who went under Kentucky Derby consideration earlier this spring, is on stall rest but “doing really well” following surgery to repair a chipped sesamoid in his hind end, said Skychai Racing partner Harvey Diamond.

The injury was discovered after the Big Brown colt’s fourth-place finish in the Blue Grass Stakes (G2).

Diamond said the Mike Maker trainee, who’s also campaigned by Sand Dollar Stable, could return to training by the fall.

“It could be three months, six months — we’ll just have to see how this proceeds,” he said. “Being a rear leg, most of a horse’s weight is on his front legs. I think that makes it a little better for him, and he’ll heal faster.”

Somelikeithotbrown has shown an affinity for the grass, nearly taking last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on the front end, and then won consecutive synthetic stakes to open his 3-year-old season at Turfway Park.

The Blue Grass also proved the colt could run on dirt, as Somelikeithotbrown wound up 4 1/4 lengths back at the wire after doing the work up front, going in 23.26 and 47.03 to open the 1 1/8-mile race at Keeneland.

Exiting the Blue Grass, another consideration for connections was the American Turf (G2) on the Derby undercard.

“I like to put them in situations where they go off 5-2, not 52-1,” Diamond said.

Connections haven’t thought ahead to the type of race in which Somelikeithotbrown could return. But they do hope he’ll race again, “unless you have a good stud job for him,” Diamond quipped. “If you do, please tell me.”