Rags to Riches's injury?

Question

Could Rags to Riches's injury have been caused by her bobble at the start of the Belmont?

In 2005 Afleet Alex clipped heels with Scrappy T and went down entering the stretch of the Preakness. He came back sound and won the Belmont, but then was sidelined with an injury. He was working back into shape in the fall for a try at the Breeders Classic, but reinjured the leg and was retired.

Rags to Riches bobbled the shart of the Belmont. She went on to win, but then was sidelined all summer with different problems. She was pulled up from a workout and missed a couple for having a fever. Then she comes back in the Gazelle and puts on an ok performance but comes out with a hairline fracture in a front leg.

Vets suggest that Afleet Alex's injury resulted from putting all of his weight on the one leg while trying to hold himself up to go on to win the Preakness. Couldn't Rags to Riches have been injured the same way?

Answer 1

That is a good idea.  Now that you mention it, there's a lot of similarities between the two horses.

It's an interesting idea that Rags actually had an infection since that's a really common reason for fevers... but there's a lot of reasons for a fever though.  And it's hard to believe that they couldn't find the infection during her down time last summer... but it's true they couldn't find anything actually wrong with her.  I think it's a good theory, but I don't think you could really prove it.

To respond to Starlight,

Actually Rags to Riches did suffer a hairline fracture... it wasn't just her tendons.  A hairline fracture isn't life threatening either.  The NTRA article reporting her retirement says: "The filly was sidelined last September after suffering a hairline fracture to her right front pastern during the running of the Grade l, $250,000 Gazelle Stakes at Belmont Park." (http://www.ntra.com/content.aspx?type=ne... ).

And I'm guessing that you and Majestic Warrior are simply using "went down" in a different way... I think it's clear that Majestic Warrior knows that Afleet Alex didn't completely fall down all the way since he later said that AA went on to win the Preakness (it would be hard for anyone to believe that a horse fell down and still won).  I think AA's fall was considerably more than a stumble... he was running all out into the stretch and when they clipped heals it looked like he landed on just the one leg supporting him and it almost looked like his nose completely ended up in the dirt.  But it's true that he stood back up and kept going.  I had heard the theory that his Preakness stumble caused his later leg problems so I looked it up and found it in the Wikipedia article: "The colt's fall campaign was derailed when he was found in late July 2005 to have a hairline fracture in his left front cannon bone, near the ankle. This injury is not an uncommon injury nor a very serious one if treated properly. Luckily, the fracture was discovered very early, and the prognosis was good for a return to his previous level of performance. Once fully healed, the colt returned to working for the Breeder's Cup Classic, putting in two bullet works in preparation for that race. However, Tim Ritchey decided to take the conservative path with the colt and shelved him for the year. Later on in the year, avascular necrosis (the dying of tissue in the bone, creating a brittle patch) was discovered and diagnosed. The necrosis was probably due to an undetected deep bruise sustained when he caught himself and exerted the tremendous effort needed to save himself and his jockey with his left front leg in his near fall in the Preakness. It is believed the necrosis caused his summer condylar fracture. Tim Ritchey and Cash is King Stable announced his retirement from racing on December 1, 2005." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afleet_Alex ).  Alex was retired without any races after the Belmont because of the necrosis in his leg... he couldn't race anymore.  He wasn't retired simply because he won the Preakness and Belmont and they wanted to retire him immediately.

Having re-read the Afleet Alex article, it sounds a lot like Rags to Riches.  A stumble caused a hairline fracture and a brittle area in the bone resulting in later injuries.  Still, that doesn't prove that Rags's injury was the same as Afleet Alex's.  But it's a good idea.

As for Rags's owners decision, I very much respect the owners for trying to continue Rags's career.  Certainly her value as a broodmare is much greater than her value as a racer, but that's also true of Curlin (yes, he'll be a stud, not a broodmare) and the ownership there is allowing him to continue racing.  When Rags's injury recurred, they were certainly correct to retire her instead of forcing her to continue running on a weak leg.  But in general for healthy 3-4 year old horses, I think owners ought to take the Rags/Curlin path more often.  For the sport, we need our heros to race more than 1 year.  It's the only way that we'll attract people back to the sport is to have recognizable great horses continue to race in more than a few races.  I don't want horses to get hurt, but racing at 2 and 3 is just as dangerous (if not more so because of bone development and stuff) as racing into a 4 or 5 year old season.  Racing won't be interesting if every time a horse wins a big race it then gets retired right away.  So long as a horse is healthy, I see no reason to retire it immediately.  There's a difference between unreasonably racing the horse into an injury and deciding to allow the horse to continue racing for another year.  It's disappointing for the fans to lose all of their heroes at the end of the year and while I respect the owners' decisions to retire their horses, I sincerely appreciate those owners who decide to allow their horses to continue racing.

Answer 2

First of all, you need to get your facts straight here. Rags did NOT suffer a leg fracture after or before the Belmont last year- she suffered an injury to her tendons ( at least according to the accounts I read afterwards from her trainer),  which are not life threatening and which horses can sometimes come back from. After she reinjured her leg during training this spring, the decision was made to retire her and breed her for a foal next year- which is what should have happened right after the Belmont. Rags has far more value as a broodmare right now than she does as a competitior, and it doesn't make sense to risk her safety and her life by continuing to subject her to race training. The longer she continued to be on the track, the more danger she was in from the possibility of a catastrophic or fatal injury, like the one which led to Ruffian's death over 30 years ago. So I actually commend her trainer and owners for showing some real common sense and compassion for a change- that's an all too rare commodity in the racing world. The owners have made the right choice, and because they were smart, we will get to see Rags's foals on the track in a few years. Perhaps one of her daughters will win the Triple Crown someday- you never know.

As for Afleet Alex, he did NOT go down in the home stretch of the Preakness- he stumbled, yes, but he DID NOT go down. I watched that race, and I saw the whole thing, which is why I know it's true. His injury after the Belmont happened during practice- but it's not clear that what happened at the Preakness actually caused it or led to it. To me, that seems to be very unlikely.  Afleet Alex was retired as soon as possible for the same reason all successful stallions are- the owners wanted the income from his stud fees and the sales of his babies. With a horse like that, it's all about money- and making as much of it as possible.

Answer 3

The Belmont Stakes race itself beat her body up to the point where she could never physically recover. She went to the maximum point of what her body could achieve. I believe this comeback was half-hearted because she appeared to be done as a racer....but it was decided to see if she could progress back on her own to a level of race fitness, which never happened.

Answer 4

I think they planned to retire her after the injury at Belmont.

I have said all along that she will never run again.  I doubt they wanted to announce her retirement so early after such an impressive run.  You read that she is to be bred to Giant's Causeway?

Answer 5

I think that is a great observation there is no way they were not planing on running her if that was the case they would have bred her earlier and I was looking forward to what could have been a great year for the distaff I ahte it when horses retire after one good year thank you to

Curlins connections. That would have been great to see Bernadini come back for at least on more year to see how good he really was