Cutlass Reality’s Career Ends After X-Rays Show Fracture

Cutlass Reality, the favorite in Sunday’s San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita, broke a small bone in his right front ankle, ending his racing career.

The 7-year-old horse will be retired to stud and is expected to stand in California, where three farms are interested.

Cutlass Reality led the San Antonio after a half-mile, was passed by Super Diamond, the eventual winner, on the far turn and then quickly dropped back in the seven-horse field.

Trainer Craig Lewis didn’t think there was anything wrong with him after the race, but Monday morning Cutlass Reality’s ankle was swollen and X-rays showed the fracture.

Cutlass Reality had won only seven of 51 starts, and no major stakes, until he was bought by New Yorkers Howard Crash and Jim Hankoff for about $500,000 in the winter of 1987.

In California last year, Cutlass Reality turned into a major winner, taking the Californian, the Hollywood Gold Cup and the Bel Air Handicap at Hollywood Park and the San Diego Handicap at Del Mar. He finished with seven victories in 15 starts for Crash and Hankoff, and his overall record was 14 victories in 66 races with purses totaling $1.4 million.

In the Gold Cup, Cutlass Reality beat Alysheba, who became horse of the year for 1988, and Ferdinand, who had been horse of the year in 1987. Alysheba lost only one other race last year.