Injured in Belmont Stakes, Tank’s Prospect Is Retired

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.