Derby Winner Animal Kingdom Out for the Year

After examining a second set of X rays, it was determined that the leg injury suffered by Animal Kingdom was
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After examining a second set of X rays, it was determined that the leg injury suffered by Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands winner Animal Kingdom was more serious than initially thought and he will not race again this season, Team Valor International president Barry Irwin said June 29.

The left hind leg injury, which is believed to have occurred at the start of the June 11 Belmont Stakes, was initially diagnosed June 15 as a small fissure on the tip of the cannon bone where it joins the lower part of the hock. At the time, Irwin and trainer Graham Motion were hopeful Animal Kingdom would be able to make a return to racing in the fall. But after veterinarians re-examined him earlier this week, a more severe problem was detected.

"A second set of films has revealed a slab fracture just above the small fissure noted in the previous images," said Irwin, who consulted veterinarians Dean Richardson, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, head of surgery at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., and Larry Bramlage, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS, a surgeon and partner at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky.

Richardson will insert a screw to compress the fracture June 30, after which Animal Kingdom will do 90 days of rehabilitation at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., first in Team Valor’s own barn and then on a water treadmill at Bruce Jackson’s equine therapy unit

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Written by:

Jason Shandler is a staff writer for The Blood-Horse magazine.

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