Animal Kingdom will make his return to the races in the Breeders’ Cup Mile

Question

Animal Kingdom will make his return to the races in the Breeders’ Cup Mile
The champion 3-year-old male in 2011, Animal Kingdom is ready to make a return to the races in the upcoming Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park, and the goal for the Team Valor international 4-year-old colt is to run in the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile on 3 November, 2012.
The plan was announced on 2 October, 2012, by Team Valor International. If the 2011 Kentucky Derby winner goes on to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile, than he will be the first horse to achieve the first Derby and Breeders’ Cup victory since 1990 when Unbridled achieved the feat.
Trained by Graham Motion, Animal Kingdom’s connections were hoping that their runner will do well in 2012, with the early goal of running in the Group 1, $10 million Dubai World Cup, but Animal Kingdom was scratched from the race when he developed a stress fracture of the ilium.
He started off the year with an easy victory at Gulfstream Park on 18 February, 2012, when he won an allowance optional claimer at about 1 1/16 miles on turf.
Animal Kingdom was making a comeback to the races this year, after fracturing his cannon bone in the 2011 Belmont Stakes, but another injury hampered his entire 2012 season.
However, the injury did not require any surgery, and a thirty-day stall rest was sufficient to heal the injury. The Mile was a viable option suggested by trainer Graham Motion, and Team Valor CEO agreed with the plan, but decided not to go public with it unless Animal Kingdom is ready and working for the race.
"Coming off the layoff, the Mile just seems very logical for him," said Motion. "He certainly has the turn of foot to handle it. The timing is right for his schedule coming back, and the caliber of horse that he is, you're not going to look for a nice, easy spot. It's a totally different situation than last winter when we ran him in the Gulfstream allowance to get ready for the Dubai World Cup. Going a mile, we feel he should be very fit for this race, and he deserves the opportunity."