DECLAN'S MOON OUT OF DERBY WITH INJURY.

Byline: Jerry Antonucci Special to the Daily News

ARCADIA - The path to the Kentucky Derby is long, winding and extremely treacherous.

Declan's Moon, undefeated in five races and the early favorite for the Run for the Roses, careened off that road Friday when trainer Ron Ellis revealed that the gelded son of Malibu Moon has a hairline fracture of the left knee and will be out of training for at least 60 days.

That means Declan's Moon not only will miss the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 9, but also the $2 million Kentucky Derby on May 7.

``The weather finally caught up with us,'' a disheartened Ellis said from his Hollywood Park barn Friday morning. ``This is a concussion injury, the kind horses get when they have to train on racetracks that have been sealed to protect them from all the rain we have had this winter. (Santa Anita track superintendent) Steve Wood did a great job on the main track. It's not his fault. It's just one of those things that happen to horses.''

On Wednesday, Ellis felt some heat in Declan's Moon's knee and had X-rays taken, which showed not only the hairline fracture, but also a nondisplaced chip that has not separated from the bone.

Declan's Moon will undergo another series of X-rays next week to determine if surgery is required. The injury is not career-threatening, but the horse won't race until at least September.

``The chip hasn't broken off yet, but if we continued to train, we'd be risking cartilage damage and that could end his career,'' Ellis said. ``I've had three veterinarians look at him and each one said we could get one, or maybe two races out of him, then the problem could become serious.

``If Declan's Moon were a colt, he could maybe win the Santa Anita Derby and then we would retire him to stud. But since he's a gelding, we plan to run him for a long time. He'll be out for a couple of months, but he will race again.''

Declan's Moon won four races in 2004, including the Del Mar Futurity, the Hollywood Prevue Stakes and the Hollywood Futurity, to earn an Eclipse Award as the top 2-year-old colt or gelding.

``The injury is really unfortunate,'' said Ellis, who attended Monroe High of North Hills. ``You only get one shot at the Derby, and this shows how difficult it is. Everything must go perfectly. It's a tough game, this Derby business.'' Declan's Moon is owned by the father-daughter team of Mace and Samantha Siegel. He was purchased as a yearling for $125,000 and has earned $627,300.