robotic technology: Horse Racing Breaking News: 2011 Kentucky Derby Winner Animal Kingdom Injured; To Miss Several Weeks?

Friday, June 17, 2011

Horse Racing Breaking News: 2011 Kentucky Derby Winner Animal Kingdom Injured; To Miss Several Weeks?

When 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom came out of the 2011 Belmont Stakes ?sore? it was understandable. In fact, the start of the race looked more like a Rodeo than?one of ?Horse Racing?s classic races?as Animal Kingdom was impeded by a much bigger Mucho Macho Man, who in turn, was impeded by Isn?t He Perfect.

Ok, ?impeded? might be sugar coating it a bit as Animal Kingdom almost fell flat on his face and almost unseated jockey John Velasquez in the process. Here it is one more time, watch Animal Kingdom (in the Green and Red Silks, towards the bottom of the screen) about 7 or 8 strides after the gates open.

Anyway, Animal Kingdom was stiff the day following the?Belmont and was slightly lame for a couple of days afterwards in his left hind leg, which prompted trainer Graham Motion to send him to the veterinary clinic in Kennett Square, Pa. for a nuclear scan of the leg.

Unfortunately for, in my opinion the best three year old colt in the land, it?s not just the normal body or muscle soreness.

On Thursday, June 16^thDr. Dean Richardson, of Barbaro fame, and Dr. Larry Bramlage of the incomparable Rood & Riddle?Equine Hospital?in Lexington examined radiographs of the hock and discovered a small fissure on the tip of the cannon bone where it joins the lower part of the hock.

The hock is the tip of what look like a backwards elbow that is the hind legs on a horse.
?

Full anatomy of a horse (the Hock Joint is highlighted by the red box)

?It?s not a major thing,? Bramlage said. ?I agree with Dr. Richardson that the best course of action is to keep the colt inactive for two weeks and radiograph the leg again. In two weeks it should settle down and he should be sound again. I don?t think it is going to separate, but that would be the worry?.

?Right now it is a tiny crack, and technically you could call it a fracture. But I would characterize it as more of a fissure because of how small it is. He lit up pretty good on the nuclear scan. Normally, no matter how hard a horse hits his leg on the ground in an accident, there is not enough force to show this type of uptake on the scan for a period of at least 10 days?.

?This tells me that, like a lot of racehorses, he probably had a little something going on in there that he was dealing with. But when he hit the ground with such force in the accident, he overloaded the bone and this is the result?.

?The good news is that this should not cost him the entire season. I would hope that he would be able to return to training in a matter of weeks.?
Owner Barry Irwin said he hopes Animal Kingdom can return to training in a few weeks, but a summer?campaign appears to be out. ?I would think the summer races are going to be out,? Irwin said. ?We?ll look forward to a fall campaign.?

Thank goodness, take it from me?..this could have been a lot worse.