Doctors at the University of California-Davis veterinary school, through a stomach sonogram, have found a mass in Lost in the Fog’s spleen that they suspect is a lymphoma, according to Greg Gilchrist, who trains last year’s Eclipse Award-winning sprinter.

A biopsy was performed on Lost in the Fog Tuesday, two days after Gilchrist brought the horse from his San Francisco base to the medical center an hour away. Gilchrist had found Lost in the Fog in discomfort Sunday and took him to Davis as a precautionary measure. The horse was being treated for a mild case of colic. But a biopsy on Lost in the Fog showed what doctors believe to be a cancerous mass. They plan to examine the horse to see if the disease has spread.

Gilchrist said that preliminary tests indicated that the lymphoma appears to be confined to the spleen. He said the mass is about the size of a cantaloupe. Lost in the Fog has won just one of his three starts this year, and Gilchrist had originally thought that quarter cracks were the culprits for the champion’s sub-par efforts. “It turns out he’s been running with this thing inside him this year,” the trainer said. “It shows you what kind of warrior this horse is.”

Gilchrist added that owner Harry Aleo is extremely concerned about his star, and that “We will do anything we can for the horse. It’s almost a Barbaro-type situation