So much for expectations

That reminded me of my senior prom: abundant anticipation followed by a cheeseburger and a handshake. Worse even: There wasn’t so much as a handshake. Indygo Mountain was scratched before he was ever loaded into the starting gate.

Thursday’s sixth at Fair Grounds was expected to match two Triple Crown prospects, Indygo Mountain and Friesan Fire, but it lost one of its headliners. And then the other forgot his lines. Only a cold cheeseburger remained.

Indygo Mountain was scratched on the recommendation of the track veterinarian. But jockey Jamie Theriot and trainer Bret Calhoun would have recommended the same thing.

“When he went to the track, he wasn’t walking quite right,” Calhoun said, “and when he tried to warm up, it was quite obvious he was off and something wasn’t right.”

Indygo Mountain had gone to the track Thursday morning for a routine gallop, just something to take the edge off. No problem. He had undergone the routine examination that morning by the state veterinarian. No problem.

All seemed fine. And Calhoun said he was very confident because Indygo Mountain had trained well and seemed to be progressing. This was as good a time as any to make a statement.

A son of A.P. Indy, Indygo Mountain won his previous outing at Churchill Downs by more than six lengths. And he finished so strongly that he left Theriot talking about the Kentucky Derby, which would be a reasonable, if ambitious, expectation for a $600,000 yearling who looks as powerful as a locomotive. And Thursday’s race was to be a step in that direction.

As for Friesan Fire, he, too, carried high expectations to the track. After winning his debut, he had finished close in two major stakes, and his trainer, Larry Jones, thought the handsome colt was poised to improve with the addition of blinkers.

A couple hours after the race, an examination indicated Indygo Mountain’s problem was in the foot of his left hind leg. Calhoun said it was probably an abscess that suddenly surfaced.

“Hopefully, it’s just a minor setback and he’ll be back soon,” the trainer said. It was too early, however, to say how much time Indygo Mountain would need to recover, but Calhoun said if all went well the colt might be a possibility for next month’s LeComte Stakes.

With the late scratch, Friesan Fire became the 2-5 favorite Thursday, and he quickly burned himself up on a lively pace and yielded to Uno Mas in the stretch. So much for expectations.