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ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) The filly Composure was retired Wednesday because of a crack in her right front leg, leaving trainer Bob Baffert without one of his Kentucky Derby contenders.
Owned by Bob and Beverly Lewis, Composure won four of eight career starts, including a three-quarter length victory in the Santa Anita Oaks on March 8 in her last start.
Baffert was considering Composure for the Derby on May 3. Just 38 fillies have run in the Derby and only three have won, the last being Winning Colors in 1988.
"She had some filling in her right front leg and it was tender," said Baffert, who discovered the injury Tuesday. "When we X-rayed her it showed a little crack in her sesamoid. So that's it. The show's over."
Other Derby contenders knocked off the trail with injuries include Vindication, Toccet and Sky Mesa, the three top 2-year-old males from last year.
Composure, a son of 1997 Belmont winner Touch Gold, finished second to Storm Flag Flying in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies last October after a thrilling stretch duel. Composure has won both her 3-year-old starts, opening with a victory in the Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 9.
The Lewises, who own Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners Silver Charm (1997) and Charismatic (1999), bought Composure for $470,000 at the 2001 Keeneland September yearling sale, and the filly earned $731,300.
The owners also raced the filly Serena's Song in the 1995 Derby, where she finished 16th after leading for the first mile in the 1¼-mile race.
