Horse Racing: Animal Kingdom out for the Rest of the Season with Injury

An injury that was first thought to only keep Animal Kingdom out for the summer has turned into something more serious, according to Blood Horse.

The Kentucky Derby winner nearly fell at the start of the Belmont Stakes on June 11, before finishing sixth in the race. It was announced later in the week that he had a small fissure on his cannon bone and that he would be ready to re-enter training a few weeks later.

However, a second set of X-rays taken this week showed another fracture above the fissure.

The colt will undergo surgery on June 30 before a 90-day rehabilitation period at Fair Hill Farm. While surgery is not necessary for the fracture, it will cut the healing time in half.

Team Valor International president Barry Irwin wasn't terribly surprised by the new information found from the latest X-ray.

“I didn’t believe the initial diagnosis, and neither did Graham [Motion, Animal Kingdom's trainer]. He has been lame every day and it hasn’t gotten any better,” Irwin told Blood Horse.

While there have been some offers on the stakes winner, Irwin isn’t selling the colt and plans to run him through his five-year-old year.

Animal Kingdom will resume training at Fair Hill this winter before shipping to Florida. The ultimate goal for the horse and his connections is the 2012 Dubai World Cup next March, if the horse’s rehabilitation goes according to plan.

Animal Kingdom won the Kentucky Derby before finishing second in the Preakness Stakes to ruin his bid for the Triple Crown. The horse has almost $2 million in earnings with a record of three wins and three seconds from seven starts, including the G3 Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes earlier this year.