Big Bikkies breaks coffin bone

Trainer Noel Daley told harnessracing.com Monday morning that the 3-year-old colt trotter Big Bikkies, who won the first of the two Kentucky Futurity eliminations at The Red Mile on Saturday but finished last in the second heat, suffered a broken coffin bone in his right front leg during that race and will be sidelined for about a year.

 

“It’s not career ending though as nothing broke off,” said Daley, who also trained Explosive Matter to runner-up finishes Saturday in both an elimination and second heat of the Futurity behind Muscle Hill.

 

Daley said the colt—who came into the Futurity riding a four-race winning streak—was fine warming both trips before the elimination but he knew early in the second heat as Big Bikkies began to fade from his early second-place position behind the leading Muscle Hill that the colt was in trouble.

 

“He only had one more start this year this weekend in the Bluegrass (Transylvania), and then he wasn’t going to race until the middle of the next year anyway,” said Daley. “The plan was to bring him back for a light 4-year-old year and then have him as a good older horse.”

 

As for Explosive Matter, Daley said “that was our shot” at beating Muscle Hill in the Futurity. He said Explosive Matter would likely start in the Transylvania this Saturday, Oct. 10, at The Red Mile, and that owners Adam Victor and Adam Victor Jr. are considering sending the colt to Italy for the Orsi Mangelli Trot on Nov. 19.