Photo:

Sophie Shore / Eclipse Sportswire

Chancer McPatrick, who underwent ankle surgery last fall, reportedly
will get back on the road to Kentucky Derby 2025 with plans to enter him in
next month’s Grade 2, $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby.

Trainer Chad Brown told Daily Racing Form on
Wednesday that a Saturday workout encouraged him to target the March 8 race
that is a virtual win-and-you’re-in qualifier for the May 3 classic at
Churchill Downs.

Click here for Tampa Bay Downs entries and results.

“I was relieved to see him starting to come forward and get
over his bit of rust from being off,” Brown told DRF’s David Grening.

Owned by Flanagan Racing, the $725,000 colt by McKinzie out
of Bernardini mare Bernadreamy breezed three furlongs in 37.8 seconds last
weekend at Payson Park Training Center in Florida. That was an improvement from
his 39.0-second drill Jan. 26 that was his first timed work of the year.

A two-time Grade 1 winner thanks to his performances in the
Hopeful (G1) and Champagne (G1) in New York last year, Chancer McPatrick was diagnosed
with what Brown called a “tiny flake” in a front ankle after a sixth-place
finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He had gone 3-for-3 before the trip to
Del Mar, from where he also came away with a quarter crack.