Report: Victory in Westchester Messier is out due to a knee chip

Messier, the Grade 3 Westchester winner on May 3, is recuperating after a knee chip removal procedure.

David Grening of Daily Racing Form reported on the surgery and his recuperation on Monday. Trainer Rick Dutrow intends to return him to the races later this year, according to the article.

"We're being led to believe he's going to come back as good and he's got a chance of being better," Dutrow told DRF. "There's always that chance of that not working out at all. Then he'll live a great life that horse is in a no-lose situation.”

Messier has a 14: 4-5-1 record and $593,690 in career earnings. He won the 2021 Bob Hope (G3) and 2022 Robert B. Lewis (G3), placed second in the 2021 Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) and was a mainstay on the California leg of the 2022 Kentucky Derby circuit (G1). He made one start at Woodbine for Kevin Attard in the barns of Bob Baffert and, for a brief while, Tim Yakteen during that West Coast part of his career before relocating to Dutrow's barn for his 2024 campaign.

It was his first victory since the 2022 Robert B. Lewis, which he earned in Westchester. However, he finished second in the two other races he entered for Dutrow, the Excelsior Stakes at Aqueduct on March 30 and an optional-claiming allowance race at Laurel in January.