NEWS
Undefeated two-year-old Kantharos retired
Posted: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 5:39 PM
KANTHAROS
Adam Coglianese/NYRA photo
by Ed DeRosa
The two-year-old male division lost one of its leaders on Tuesday when Jess Jackson announced that he had retired undefeated multiple graded stakes winner Kantharos because of a non-life threatening fracture the Lion Heart colt suffered while galloping out following a Monday morning workout.
Trained by Steve Asmussen, Kantharos’s fall goal was a start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) on November 6 at Churchill Downs, and the Jackson camp thought it had a 2011 Triple Crown contender.
“This horse is a magnificent athlete,” Jackson said. “We are stunned, shocked, and terribly saddened by this awful event. At the same time, we are hoping that this injury will heal completely. At this point, his prognosis for a healthy recovery is good, but in any case, his racing career is over.”
Jackson’s Stonestreet Stable acquired Kantharos for $250,000 at this year’s Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. March sale of selected two-year-olds in training, and the colt paid dividends within two months when he won his career debut on May 13 at Churchill Downs by 11 3/4 lengths.
Kantharos continued to blossom, winning the Bashford Manor Stakes (G3) (VIDEO) on July 3 at Churchill by 9 1/2 lengths over graded stakes winner Lou Brissie and the Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) (VIDEO) on August 16 at Saratoga Race Course by 7 1/4 lengths. The Monday workout was Kantharos’ first since that win, and he went five furlongs in 1:03.90 on the Oklahoma Training Track before suffering the fracture while galloping out.
“This was a tragic and unforeseeable event,” Asmussen said. “The brilliance that he had shown was a foretaste of his limitless potential.”
Hedberg Hall of Mt. Sterling bred Kantharos in Kentucky out of the winning Southern Halo mare Contessa Halo, whose progeny also includes Grade 3 winner Ikigai and stakes winner Bonifacto.
Ed DeRosa is news editor of Thoroughbred Times
READER COMMENTS
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Posted by: commonsense101, Lexington, KY on September 06, 2010 at 03:15 PM
You are all correct!! JJ and Asmussen are paying for their 'back alley crap' its coming home to them.
Steve Asmussen has always been a shady subject.
I beleive they are still doping these horses.
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Posted by: old steve, woodburn, OR on September 02, 2010 at 06:31 AM
please shut up mr whinemaker...are we angling for end of the year honors?...gawd, you're annoying
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Posted by: Masuda, Upton, KY on September 01, 2010 at 07:21 PM
Typical of Jess Jackson's horse's, One Year Wonder's. Come on people wake up, you should know the pattern by now.
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Posted by: Connie, Belgrade, MT on September 01, 2010 at 05:39 PM
Another one bites the dust from the Stables of J & A. I am sure RA will come up with some "career ending
injury" in the next month or so. Goes to show what human do to horses in their quest for their own egos. If you have a good one, then take it easy, space the races, take no chances and then reap the rewards. John S has done exactly that with Zen, and look at her now---she is on top of the world.
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Posted by: Lexi, WAKEFILED, MA on September 01, 2010 at 10:08 AM
Could'nt have be from the fact that Asmussen 's "program" is one of hard, early racing & drugs, could it?..Ever notice how one of the Phipps stables or Claborne's good two year oldS never have this happen?? Jackson & Asmuseen are poster children for everything wrong with US racing...
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