 I'll Have Another, shown here galloping on Thursday morning and after he was scratched, had some heat and swelling in his left front leg yesterday. After treating it overnight, they took him out at 5:30 this morning for a jog but the swelling was back. They did a scan of the leg and found the beginnings of tendonitis and scratched him from the Belmont Stakes, stopping his bid for the Triple Crown. He has been retired. His trainer Doug O'Neill said, "He's got tendonitis in his left front tendon. He's not 100 percent, and I ain't taking any chances."
I'll Have Another will have a retirement ceremony just before the Belmont Stakes. |
Atigun came out for a gallop during the special session. His trainer Ken McPeek said in reaction to the scratch: "I feel really terrible for the connections. To do what they've done and what they've been through - it's like completely letting the air out of a balloon. Doug [O'Neill] has done this for a long time and he'll keep his head up and they'll come back in the future."
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Dullahan was out for a gallop Friday morning around 7:30am. His trainer Dale Romans said about I'll Have Another scratching from the race: "It's devastating. I really wanted him to compete. This was going to be a special race, one of the biggest races of our time. It's just devastating. We're going to inherit the role as favorite, but I'd rather have him in there. I think we could have competed with him and it would have been a great race and great for the sport. It would have been something special to beat him."
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Five Sixteen gallop this morning as well. His trainer Dominick Schettino said about the scratch: "It's a shame what happened, a potential Triple Crown winner. It would have been great for the sport."
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Guyana Star Dweej galloped with a work partner this morning. His owner-trainer Doodnauth Shivmangal said in reaction to the scratch: "What I do in the morning, I look at my horses. I don't look at other people's horses. As a trainer, I don't breeze too much myself, but I thought something wasn't right. That's horse racing. We understand that things like that happen. But it's not good. I don't like it. It's not pleasant for me. The
competition will be one less horse I have to worry about, but in my heart, deep down, it's not something that I want to happen."
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Paynter galloped during the special session this morning.
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Ravelo's Boy galloped during the special session this morning. Asked why he brought Ravelo's Boy, a 50-1 long shot in Saturday's Belmont
Stakes, all the way from Florida for the race, trainer Manny Azpurua said, "You have to try, my friend."
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Street Life galloped during the special session this morning. "I thought he [galloped] perfectly," said Brown. "I couldn't be any happier."
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Union Rags went out for a gallop during the special session at 8:30am. His trainer Michael Matz said in reaction to I'll Have Another being scratched: "I came home last night. I didn't know what the situation was and today people were texting back and forth. I feel sorry for the horse. It would have been nice to try to get the Triple Crown, that's for sure."
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Unstoppable U galloped during the special session this morning.
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