Univ. of Pa. Racehorse Expert Says Favorite's Injury Won't Affect Retired Life
By Steve Tawa
KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. (CBS) -- "I'll Have Another," the colt that won the first two races in the Triple Crown, was scratched suddenly today from tomorrow's Belmont Stakes, and retired with a swollen tendon (see related story).
A horse-loving veterinarian at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, who has had some famous four-legged patients in the past, says the type of injury that "I'll Have Another" sustained isn't a very painful one.
Dr. Dean Richardson, the chief of surgery at the well-known veterinary hospital who treated Kentucky Derby winner "Barbaro," says the tendon injury is common in horses.
Hear or download the press conference about "I'll Have Another"...
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"It's not in any way going to be debilitating to him to live out his life," Richardson tells KYW Newsradio. "But it would certainly put him at risk if he were to go out and perform at a very high level right now."
He says the injury will heal with time:
"The horse is not overtly lame. This is a pretty common injury in thoroughbred racehorses -- actually even in non-race horses."
Dr. Richardson treated Barbaro after complications from his gruesome breakdown in the Preakness in 2006, until the beloved horse was euthanized at the end of an eight-month treatment effort.
