Cash is King Stable’s Afleet Alex, winner of this year’s Preakness and Belmont Stakes (both gr. I), has been retired. Trainer Tim Ritchey announced Thursday the son of Northern Afleet has been retired due to a recently detected injury believed to have caused the colt’s hairline condylar fracture of the left front cannon bone suffered in July.

There is no deal pending on where the colt will stand at stud.

Afleet Alex has not started since the June 11 Belmont because of the injury. He retires with eight wins in 12 starts and earnings of $2,765,800. He nearly became the sport’s 12th Triple Crown winner. He finished third in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) by a length, won the Preakness after nearly being knocked down by Scrappy T in the turn for home, and won the Belmont by seven lengths.

Ritchey said the fracture has healed, but a new problem was discovered on the latest set of xeroradiographs. Prior to being shipped to Gulfstream Park, where he currently is stabled, Afleet Alex was sent to the New Jersey Equine Clinic for an evaluation by Dr. Patricia Hogan, who performed the surgery to repair the fracture. A xeroradiograph of the cannon bone revealed an abnormal wedge-shaped section of bone abutting the original fracture line