They say bad things come in threes, well, the world of horse racing is now sitting back, as collective spectators waiting for the third instalment.
Bob Baffert – who two days ago was accused of supplying a prohibitive substance to one of his unbeaten superstar 3YOs CHARLATAN, has woken this morning to find his other unbeaten superstar 3YO, NADAL, has a fracture.
Both horses were expect to run in the 20 June, Gr 1 Belmont Stakes and stay the course for the big Gr 1 Kentucky Derby in September.
Looks unlikely either will make either of those races now.
Dr Ryan Carpenter performed emergency surgery on Nadal (Blame-Ascending Angel) this morning after he presented with a condylar fracture of his near foreleg.
He has had a pair of screws placed into the bone.
Nadal was the leader on the new Kentucky Derby points system this year.
After a maiden win 19 January at Santa Anita, he rattled off three consecutive stakes victories: the 9 Feb San Vicente Stakes (Gr 2), the 14 March Rebel Stakes (Gr 2), and the now controversial 2 May Arkansas Derby Day (Gr 1).
His part-owner, George Bolton, indicated the horse would be retired now, undefeated in 4 starts and negotiations are under way to see which farm secures his services.
Spendthrift is the favourite way, which means he may reverse shuttle to Australia eventually….if they win the bidding war.
As for Charlatan (Speightstown-Authenticity) , no update on his ‘supposed’ doping as yet and he is likely, should nothing further happen, to race over 1400mn on the undercard of the Belmont Stakes day.
