Animal Kingdom came out of his recent work sore, misses World Cup
It was another setback for the reigning 3-year-old champion and the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner, Animal Kingdom, whose hopes of going across the globe to win the richest race were dashed with a single tweet from his trainer, saying that the son of Leroidesanimaux
is out of the Group 1, $10 million Dubai World Cup because he came out of his recent work sore.
“Sorry to report that AK will not be making the trip to Dubai. He came out of his work sore in the same leg that he injured in the Belmont.” The statement came from trainer Graham Motion.
Team Valor International owned 3-year-old, Animal Kingdom was preparing for the Dubai World Cup at Palm Meadows Training Center, and his latest work consisted of five furlongs which he breezed, but he got out sore in the same leg that he injured in last
year’s Grade 1 Belmont Stakes.
After the Belmont Stakes last year, trainer Graham Motion announced that he will not be participating at Meydan for the Dubai World Cup, but the colt showed tremendous recovery, and got himself healthy and fit to run in the most rigorous race after Kentucky
Derby.
The severity of the injury is yet to be surfaced, that is why diagnostics are currently being performed to find out for how long the colt will be out of action, but the timing of injury is such that the Team Valor International chief executive office, Barry
Irwin and trainer Graham Motion have scrapped the trip.
Animal Kingdom was supposed to leave on 20 March, but Motion is still sending, Lucky Chappy, to participate in the Group 1 UAE Derby.
“This is a crushing blow for our company and our partners as well as our trainer, who has done such a great job getting the horse back to this point,” Irwin said. “If he comes out of this OK, hopefully we can run in the World Cup in 2013.”
Within the next 48 hours, Animal Kingdom will be sent for a bone scan to determine the problem. The problem was detected on 11 March, but the news is all the more shocking because according to trainer Graham Motion, he came out of his last race really well.
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