Photo:

Jason Moran / Eclipse Sportswire

Chancer McPatrick has not returned to work after physical issues that delayed his 3-year-old debut, but trainer Chad Brown still hopes to make the Kentucky Derby trail with him.

According to a report from David Grening of Daily Racing Form, Chancer McPatrick had surgery to remove “a tiny flake” from a front ankle after the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, a race he also exited with a quarter crack in a hind hoof. Brown told Grening that the chip looked new after the Breeders’ Cup, and he wanted it removed when it was new instead of waiting to deal with it in the summer.

Brown identified the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby as a possible destination if he can return to the work tab by the end of January and things go well, according to the report from Grening. Brown won the Tampa Bay Derby for the first time in 2024 with Domestic Product, who would go on to finish 13th in the Kentucky Derby but win the Dwyer (G3) and the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial (G1) at one turn.

Chancer McPatrick is an Eclipse Award finalist for champion 2-year-old. The son of McKinzie won his first three starts, a maiden special weight and the Hopeful (G1) at Saratoga and the Champagne (G1) at Aqueduct. He finished his 2-year-old season with a sixth-place finish behind likely champion Citizen Bull in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.