More on Alex’s Retirement
Trainer Tim Ritchey believes Afleet Alex’s stumble in the Preakness could have caused the injury that led to his retirement on Thursday:
“I was always amazed that he showed absolutely no problems after the Preakness,” Ritchey said. “Even though he appeared sound and never took a bad step, he probably bruised something in the Preakness. If that’s the case, and it makes sense to me that it is, that was probably the cause of the hairline fracture of the cannon bone.”
Dick Jerardi allows that as one possibility, but also wonders:
Was it there all along and just not detected? Did the postoperative training cause it?… Was it inevitable because of the stress of racing?
Bob Ford argues the fault lies with the last.
More from me on this story later in the week …
