I’ll Have Another
was scratched today, Friday 6/8/12, one day before the Belmont.

The news analysts said he had been galloping strongly and looked great. He seemed healthy. He hadn't had a workout since the Preakness.

I'll Have Another went to the track this morning at 5:30 am, a break from his usual routine. Trainer Doug O'Neill wanted him to go out while it was quieter. O’Neill wanted to have an “off-speed day” with him. He jogged ½ mile with Lava Man ponying him and then galloped 1 mile with the pony. He had been going out at 8:30am. He looked in good spirits. Nothing seemed a miss. 

The attending vet, Dr. Hunt, was interviewed by phone on HRTV by Gary Mandella. 

Dr. Hunt had looked the horse over before going into the holding barn - everything looked fine.

Doug called the vet this morning as he was a little unhappy with his left foreleg.

Upon examination, I’ll Have Another did have a little bit of filling, some inflammation, slight tenderness to his lower tendon on that leg. They ultra-sounded it and there is enough change in comparison to his right tendon to think that there may be some stress, some damage to the tendon. So, the vet advised Doug not to run him. He could have run the horse. But the value is such that they don’t want to risk it.

These things heal, the longer time off the better. There are some modalities, some treatment protocols that are new now, stem cells, etc. This injury is a potential serious injury if it gets stressed. You don’t have pain.

Think of tendons like the cables of a suspension bridge… multiple fibers on fibers on fibers.  When you first get some inflammation in a tendon, the glue that holds the fibers together side to side weakens. On ultrasound you see an enlarged tendon in comparison to his opposite one. So that indicates something is going on.  When you remove the glue that holds the cables together, side to side, this makes them weaker. and once they break you cannot reattach them. So at this point, if you can simply let them rest and heal, the glue comes back. Generally speaking, you do not have palpable pain until the fibers broken.

 So it is a suspicious situation {in the sense that inflammation indicates something is going on}. 1 ½ mile is a long way. Fatigue is your enemy and that is when bad things happen. The horse {comes} first.

They have decided to retire him to stud.

He’s grazing on the grass now with a slew of photographers.

IHA will lead the horses onto the track tomorrow for the Belmont Stakes so the fans will see be able to see him, celebrate his Derby and Preakness victories, and wish him well in his next chapter in Kentucky.