Animal Kingdom Out of Training with Injury

Big news from the connections of Animal Kingdom. That horrific "trip" at the start of the Belmont has left Animal Kingdom with an injury to his left leg. There appears to be a small fissure on the tip of his cannon bone where it connects to the lower part of the hock.

The decision has been made to rest the horse until the Fall, and return to training in a few weeks. His next scheduled start had been July 31 at the Haskell at Monmouth Park.

The jockey of Mucho Macho Man, Rajiv Maragh, came across Animal Kingdom about three strides out of the gate and injured the horse. For this careless and dangerous riding, jockey Maragh was given a seven day suspension.

The accident, which has not been classified as serious, is none the less one that needs to be watched carefully to prevent the fissure from actually separating. According to Dr. Larry Bramlage, who examined the horse in Lexington on June 16, "This tells me that, like a lot of racehorses, he probably had a little something going on in there that he was dealing with. But when he hit the ground with such fore in the accident, he overloaded the bone and this is the result."

Animal Kingdom was initially sent to New Bolton Center when he came up stiff and "marginally lame' after the race. Dean Richardson performed a nuclear scan and made the original diagnosis and Dr. Bramlage offered a concurring second opinion.

"I'm very relived," said Barry Irwin, who heads Team Valor, the owners of the horse. "I feel like we've dodged a bullet."

Personally, after that collision it would be a miracle if nothing was wrong. They are indeed lucky that it was fairly minor.