The unusual concentration of catastrophic and career-ending injuries during the opening weeks of the current Del Mar meet hit home in dramatic fashion Aug. 13 when Prosperous Bid, a 3-year-old son of Mr. Prospector owned by John and Betty Mabee and trained by Bob Baffert, fractured both sesamoids of his left foreleg when he was pulled up after a morning workout.

John Mabee, chairman of the board of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, once called Prosperous Bid “the best horse I ever bred” and considered the colt his top prospect for the classics earlier this year. The half-brother to multimillionaire Best Pal won his first two races and was third to Artax and Real Quiet in the San Felipe Handicap (gr. II). In his most recent start, Prosperous Bid was third at Del Mar on Aug. 2.

“That will happen when a horse is gearing down after a work sometimes,” Baffert said. “They’re not striding out the same as when they’re at full speed, and they’ll come down wrong. Do that on a track that’s deep like this one and bad things can happen.”

Prosperous Bid was scheduled for surgery at the Equine Medical Center near Los Alamitos racetrack on Aug. 17. According to Dr. Vince Baker, Baffert’s attending vet, the prognosis for recovery was good. “He can be saved for stud,” Baker said