I’ll Have Another Injured, No Triple Crown

I'll Have Another was on his way to becoming a Triple Crown winner. Having won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, I'll Have Another was getting ready for the Belmont. Sadly, fate stepped in and the chestnut racing thoroughbred was injured and thrown out of the Belmont. The culprit? Tendonitis.

The disappointing news came after a crazy week at the Belmont where the race was almost cancelled because of a labor strike. A tentative deal ended the strike threat.

Owner J. Paul Reddam and trainer Doug O'Neill said they decided to retire the horse from racing after it was discovered on the eve of the Belmont Stakes that the 3-year-old colt had the beginning of tendonitis in his left front tendon.

I'll Have Another was physically capable of competing yesterday, Reddam and O'Neill said, but it would not have been in the horse's best interest. Reddam called I'll Have Another's injury "a freakish thing."

I'll Have Another would have been competing to be the first thoroughbred in 34 years to capture the triple crown. The last triple crown winner was Affirmed in 1978. The Belmont was expected to draw 100,000 people to the New York track and millions more to their TV sets.

The injured horse is scheduled to return home to California this weekend. I'll Have Another was sold as a yearling in 2010 for just $11,000 and faced 15-to-1 odds in the derby before becoming the first winner ever to start from post No. 19.