TRIPLE CROWN HOPEFUL TO BE RETIRED

Earlier this week, Barn 2 on the backstretch was designated as the stakes barn for the Belmont Stakes, but shortly after 1:00 on Friday afternoon, it became a zoo. Shoulder to shoulder media lined up as Paul Reddum explained that I'll Have Another has tendinitis in the left front, superficial tendon forcing a Belmont Stakes scratch and sending I'll Have Another into retirement.

Trainer Doug O'Neil at a press conference announcing the retired of the Triple Crown hopeful.

The condition initially surfaced yesterday afternoon but looked fine to Team O'Neil this morning for his routine gallop.  It resurfaced when the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner was cooling out.

"He has been showing a little bit of ‑‑ you know, he has been quiet the last few days of galloping, but his legs have been great," said O'Neil.  Yesterday he galloped great, but in the afternoon we noticed some loss of definition in his left front leg to which, like every other owner and trainer we prayed he just kind of hit himself and it was just a little bit of skin irritation, we did him up in a special poultice."

When questioned about the change of time in his morning gallop, O'Neil and Reddum clarified that the early exercise was previously planned.

"Well, if he didn't look 100 percent this morning, I wouldn't have," continued O'Neil.  "But you know, after yesterday afternoon, the intent was to take him out real early when it was quiet.  And one of the negatives to this detention barn is that 8:30 everyone is heading out and you've got, you know, ten to 12 horses all trying to go to the track, all trying to be on the wash rack.  It gets congested.  I wanted a real quiet time with him."

Real estate was precious at the  Belmont Stakes barn during the press conference.

"So it wasn't like he had an injury and Doug took him out for a test drive this morning," added Reddum. "That was not the case.  He had a little heat; it was gone.  He was good this morning, probably because he was treated before the race on Thursday.  It was just after that, Doug called and we just discussed, 'okay, we have this problem, should we look at it?'  I said, well, if you look at it, and the vet comes over, he'll have a lot of attention, but what the heck, that's what's best for the horse so that's what he did.  Just to be precautionary, he said we'll scan the tendon and it's a good thing he did scan it, because that's when he found the problem.  So the horse is not lame.  He could have run tomorrow.  You wouldn't have known a difference had he not looked at it.  So Doug, through extreme caution about the horse, had the vet come over and scan him."

The scratch of the Triple Crown hopeful leaves a field of eleven and Dullahan becomes the new morning line favorite.  I'll Have Another, now not a Belmont contender now moved back in with Lava Man to Barn 9.