Injured in Belmont Stakes, Tank’s Prospect Is Retired

NEW YORK —  Tank’s Prospect, the winner of the Preakness Stakes who broke down in the stretch of Saturday’s Belmont, will be retired to stud after suffering a pulled right front suspensory ligament.

X-rays of Tank’s Prospect’s injured leg Sunday showed that there was no sesamoid (ankle) damage, which sometimes results in a horse being destroyed. The suspensory is located just above a horse’s ankle.

Tank’s Prospect, a $625,000 yearling auction purchase by Gene Klein, won five races out of 14 starts, including the Arkansas Derby and the Preakness, and earned $1.3 million. Via surgery, the son of Mr. Prospector had recovered from an entrapped epiglottis (a blockage in the windpipe) following a last-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby.

Tank’s Prospect ran seventh in the Kentucky Derby and raced with a bar shoe in both the Preakness and the Belmont, the latter race on a muddy track at Belmont Park. A bar shoe is used to keep the hoof from spreading under excessive pressure, holding the foot together and giving it a lift.

Tank’s Prospect was never a factor in the Belmont, which was won by Creme Fraiche by a half-length over stablemate Stephan’s Odyssey with a late stretch run.

Pat Day, who won the Preakness aboard Tank’s Prospect, felt badly about the 3-year-old colt’s injury Saturday.

“At the three-eighths pole, I hit him with the whip in my left hand and there was no response,” Day said. “I probably should have known there was something wrong at the half-mile pole, because he wasn’t running right and might have been trying to tell me something then.

“It’s all hindsight, which is usually 20-20 vision, but I think he was trying to telegraph something to me. I’m glad it’s just a suspensory and nothing more, because he’s too nice of a horse to go down the tubes.”

Trainer Woody Stephens, winning the Belmont for a record fourth straight time, said he had no immediate plans for Creme Fraiche. Eddie Maple, who rode Creme Fraiche, hopes the gelding will meet Spend a Buck later in the year. Spend a Buck won both the Kentucky Derby and the Jersey Derby, but was a non-starter in the Preakness and Belmont.

“We’re gonna have to beat Spend a Buck to be considered for the year’s 3-year-old championship,” Maple said.