NEWS
Arlington Million winner Jambalaya sidelined
Posted: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 4:32 PM
JAMBALAYA
Four Footed Fotos
by Jeff Apel
Jambalaya, the winner of the Arlington Million Stakes (G1) on August 11, will be sidelined for the rest of the year by an acute bone bruise on the end of a cannon bone in his right front leg.
Trainer and co-owner Catherine Day Phillips said the injury was discovered after the Langfuhr gelding underwent a MRI on Tuesday at Equine Services Surgical Hospital in Simpsonville, Kentucky. The five-year-old will be stall rested at Kingfield Farm in Toronto, which Day Phillips owns along with her husband, Todd.
“He’s more than the big horse in the barn. He’s really part of our family. He’s a very special horse to us,” Day Phillips said. “But on the bright side, he’ll be at our farm. My husband will be looking after him, so he’ll be close by.”
Day Phillips said heat and swelling showed up for the first time in Jambalaya’s right front leg following the Arlington Million. The problem resurfaced after the Langfuhr gelding breezed four furlongs in :50.80 on Woodbine’s training track on September 8.
“As of right now, it’s non-surgical. There’s nothing to put back together,” Day Phillips said. “It was caught very early. Normally, when they get further advanced, they don’t heal or repair.”
Jambalaya earned an automatic starting spot in the $3-million John Deere Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) on October 27 at Monmouth Park after unleashing a determined stretch run to overtake defending winner The Tin Man and capture the Arlington Million. The win was the second Grade 1 victory of the season for Jambalaya, the winner of the Gulfstream Park Breeders’ Cup Turf Stakes (G1) on February 24.
Jambalaya also won the Bulleit Bourbon Pan American Handicap (G3) on March 31 at Gulfstream and earned consecutive third-place finishes at Woodbine in the King Edward Breeders’ Cup Stakes (Can-G2) on July 2 and the Northern Dancer Breeders’ Cup Turf Stakes (Can-G2) on July 22.
Five-year-old Jambalaya was being pointed toward the $600,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational Stakes (G1), a 1 1/2-mile race on September 30 at Belmont Park.
“It’s sad,” Day Phillips said. “But at least he’s got a chance to recover and come back. That’s the most important thing.”
A career earner of $1,588,214, Jambalaya has won eight of his 21 starts over four seasons. Bred in Ontario by Gustav Schickedanz, the dark bay or brown gelding is out of Muskrat Suzie, by Vice Regent.
Jeff Apel is a Thoroughbred Times assistant daily news editor
