Life Is Good hurt, Crown hopes over

Life Is Good, who was on target to be the favorite for the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby on May 1, is out.

Bob Baffert, the Hall of Fame trainer of the 3year-old colt, said the horse is off the Triple Crown trail. Life Is Good has an apparent hind-end injury which was detected after the horse worked six furlongs in 1:112⁄5 Saturday morning at Santa Anita.

“I’m still digesting this and it’s tough,” Baffert said by cell phone from California on Saturday night. “That horse is a ‘wow’ horse. He is so fast and so dominant. When you have the horse to beat … I just feel bad for the connections. The good news is that he will run again.”

But not in the Triple Crown. Baffert, who has won the Kentucky Derby a record-tying six times, said the colt will not compete in the Derby, Preakness or Belmont Stakes. Life Is Good will ship to Lexington, Ky., this week where he will be evaluated by Dr. Larry Bramlage at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital.

The horse will recuperate at Winstar Farm, which owns Life Is Good along with the China Horse Club.

Life Is Good is unbeaten in three career starts, the most recent being an eight-length win in the San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita on March 6.

“The horse is going to be OK, that’s the main thing,” Baffert said.

Louisiana Derby: Hot Rod Charlie led wire to wire to win the $1 million Louisiana Derby by two lengths over Midnight Bourbon on Saturday and earn 100 points toward qualification for the Kentucky Derby. It was the first graded stakes victory after some narrow misses for the California-based horse.midnight Bourbon was second. Long shot O Besos was third.