Editor's Note: Since January 1, ESPN.com has been tracking the progress of Triple Crown hopeful Saarland in a weekly diary of the horse's season-long progress. Over the course of Saarland's nine days in Louisville, his final Kentucky Derby tune-ups will be updated daily.

End of the Road
It's certainly not the way anyone wants this to end. Saarland, the picturesque colt we've followed since New Year's Day, concludes his Road to the Roses with a 10th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. But far worse than his placing, he leaves the Derby an injured horse with a bone chip in his left front ankle.

Trainer Shug McGaughey and his staff were despondent after the race. They spent all of Saturday night wondering what went wrong. "I really thought I brought the right horse," McGaughey says. Sunday morning, they found out why Saarland ran so poorly.

"He cooled out after the race fine," McGaughey reflects. "The next morning we gave him his cold water wraps and walked him fine. Then when we were hosing him off, we felt some pressure in his left front ankle that was not there before. We had him x-rayed immediately and they found a chip."

Saarland was vanned to Lexingtons Rood and Riddle clinic Sunday afternoon. Monday morning, Dr. Larry Bramlage performed routine surgery to remove the chip.

"Dr. Bramlage said he thought the injury most definitely happened during the Derby," McGaughey says. "The chip was pretty acute and fresh. Maybe it happened right out of the gate when he got turned a little bit. It's hard to say. At least we know now why he did not run at all."

It's a sad end that proves this game can humble you as fast as it can engage you. Saarland's swelling support before the Derby made him the darling of the race. Despite losing his only two prep races of the season, fans made him the second wagering choice at post time. His 15-to-1 morning line odds were long forgotten when he closed at 6-to-1, just behind Harlan's Holiday for race favoritism. Maybe the attention and hype here caused some of that. Maybe fans just saw something they liked and who could blame them?

Thank our lucky stars that we even got to follow a horse along this long road. Truth is, an injury or signs of lacking talent along the way would have halted the series in mid-stream. To pick a Kentucky Derby starter in mid-December and then have him come through until the first Saturday in May was a winning ticket in itself.

We got to learn a lot about Saarland and the game of horse racing this spring. Along the way, we met wonderful people and made friends. Owner Cynthia Phipps was all class, and perhaps the most excited viewer each week when the new diary posted online. She joked that she learned about Saarland at ESPN.com before she would get calls from the trainer. She lost her father to illness in the weeks leading up to the Derby, and our condolences go out to her in person and print.

Trainer Shug McGaughey earned our respect throughout the season with his honesty and professionalism, but most importantly, his ability to stay the course and do what he thought was right. By the time Derby rolled around, you could tell he actually enjoyed the series and even our ESPN.com live chat.

"I thought the series was great," McGaughey says. "I was surprised when I heard how much other people were following it. It was a great idea and captured people's imagination about racing by following Saarland. I would hear about it everywhere we went."

Assistant trainer Buzz Tenney was a straight shooter who you had no choice but to like. A truer guy you wont find. His commitment to family earns respect. Assistant Robbie Medina gave us insight behind the scenes all spring and showed he is a young man with a bright future in this business. Keep an eye out for his name in the program in coming years. Exercise rider Juice Krajewski never stopped talking, filling notebook after notebook in this long journey. He's one of those guys that it takes about 30 seconds to feel like you're a friend. And groom Gilberto Torres never once failed to flash his smile. He does not say much, but you can't help but feel he's happy to be right where he is.

Recapping the season:
January 1: Saarland's Road to the Roses debuts on ESPN.com

Feb. 5: Gulfstream Park re-vamps its deep racetrack after a month-long barrage of complaints from trainers. McGaughey says that the track was safe, but it made it difficult to get a gauge on Saarland's level of fitness. Therefore, he'll skip the originally scheduled season debut in the Feb. 16 Fountain of Youth.

Feb. 21-22-23: For three straight days, McGaughey enters Saarland in Gulfstream Park allowance races only to see his seasonal debut squelched by a lack of entries. Plans A and B have now failed. Plan C will be to run in the Gotham Stakes March 10 without a prep.

Mar. 10: Saarland logs his final Gotham Stakes workout while in Florida, then boards the horse van for a 25-hour ride to New York for his 3-year-old return.

Mar. 17: Saarland makes a mild rally to finish second in the one-mile Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct. "I'm tickled pink. He did exactly what we asked him to do and finished with interest," McGaughey says.

Mar. 19: Saarland moves to the top of the list of Kentucky Derby contenders, ranked No. 1 this week by a panel of experts at kentuckyderby.com.

April 13: Front-runners Buddha, Medaglia d'Oro and Sunday Break run one-two-three the entire Wood Memorial as Saarland closes some ground to finish fourth in his major Kentucky Derby prep race of the season. Afterward, jockey John Velazquez returns to say that Saarland "held his breath" the final quarter mile of the race.

April 17: Saarland undergoes minor throat surgery, a 10-minute procedure in his stall at Belmont Park. The hope is that the surgery helps correct a breathing problem caused by the horse flipping his soft palate during the running of the Wood Memorial.

April 22: Just five days after throat surgery, Saarland works the fastest half-mile of his career in :47-1/5 at Belmont Park. The fast time gives the stable hope that the surgery has rectified Saarland's breathing issues.

April 25: Saarland leaves on a charter plane from Farmingdale, NY to Louisville, KY for the 128th Kentucky Derby. He arrives a few hours later and immediately gets to work on some of that Kentucky bluegrass.

April 29: McGaughey tells Krajewski to work Saarland in 1:02 for his final five-furlong Kentucky Derby workout. Mission accomplished in exactly 1:02 as fans and media in Louisville clamor over this colts chances in Derby 128.

May 4: Saarland finishes a lackluster 10th of 18 in the Kentucky Derby, falling far behind early and never making a rally. He is bet down to the 6-to-1 second choice in the race despite not winning a race since last November's Remsen Stakes.

May 5: An injury is detected in Saarland's left front ankle while being hosed down the morning after the Derby. X-rays confirm an ankle chip. Saarland is vanned to Lexington, KY, where Dr. Larry Bramlage will evaluate his status.

May 6: Bramlage performs minor surgery to remove the ankle chip from Saarland's left front foot. The colt will be given a few months off on Bill Harrigan's farm in Lexington and McGaughey hopes to have Saarland back in his barn by the Saratoga meeting in July.