I’ll Have Another, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, will not run in Saturday’s 144th Belmont Stakes, trainer Doug O’Neill announced on on Friday, ending the colt’s bid for a US Triple Crown sweep.
The chestnut horse was made a 4-5 favorite on Wednesday but O’Neill chose to scratch him from the race after a veterinarian inspection found left front leg swelling, a sign of tendinitis, after a morning workout.
“We didn’t want to take any chances,” O’Neill told ESPN.
“It’s a huge disappointment.”
The decision doomed I’ll Have Another’s chance of becoming the 12th horse to win all three US flat racing classics in the same year.
Not since Affirmed in 1978 has a horse completed the treble sweep, with 11 hopefuls in the 34 years since then thwarted by failure at the Belmont, the longest of the three races at 2400m.
The decision steals most of the excitement from Saturday’s equine showdown at Belmont Park.
In both the Derby and Preakness, I’ll Have Another chased down Bodemeister in the home stretch to claim victory.
Bodemeister, twice a runner-up, was not entered in the Belmont Stakes.
