Healthcare Matters

ELMONT, N.Y. (Washington Post) — Horse racing’s hope for its first Triple Crown winner in 34 years were dashed Friday. I’ll Have Another, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes last month, was scratched on the eve of the Belmont Stakes, ending his attempt to become just the 12th horse in history to win all three races.

I’ll Have Another experienced swelling in his left front leg after a workout Friday morning, trainer Doug O’Neill said. A doctor said it was the beginning of tendinitis.

“It’s just a freakish thing,” O’Neill told reporters outside the barns at Belmont Park. “He has been a little quiet the last few days of galloping. Yesterday we noticed some loss of definition in the leg. I prayed it was just a bit of skin irritation. This morning he looked great, but cooling down, you could tell that the swelling was back.

O’Neill said the injury was not serious enough to prevent I’ll Have Another from racing, but the decision inside the horse’s camp was unanimous to retire him before Saturday’s grueling 11 / 2-mile race, the longest of the Triple Crown races.

“It’s far from tragic,” O’Neill said, “but it is very disappointing.”

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Can you believe it?

—Tom Finn