Some horses win first 2 Triple Crown legs, can't compete in Belmont
If American Pharoah wins the Belmont Stakes Saturday, he would become the first since 1978 to win the Triple Crown while avoiding even more exclusive — and less desirable — company.
Eleven horses have won the Triple Crown. But only three have won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes only to fail to get a chance to run in the Belmont and complete the sweep.
Paul Reddam is the only living thoroughbred owner who knows the uncertainly of what might have been.
"One will never know, right?" he said. "It was a shock."
It first happened in 1932, when a paperwork problem prevented Burgoo King from being entered in the Belmont. In 1936, Bold Venture suffered an injury in training before the race in New York. And in 2012, I'll Have Another, who was then owned by Reddam, was pulled from the field the day before the race.
Doug O'Neill, who trained the horse, announced on Friday that the chestnut colt was scratched from the race because of a tendon injury in the horse's front left leg.
"He was kind of like American Pharoah is this year, the head of his class," O'Neill told Paste BN Sports. "I was extremely confident we were going to get it done that day."
This week, Reddam, O'Neill and jockey Mario Gutierrez recalled how it all unraveled June 8, 2012, the day before the 144th running of the Belmont Stakes. Reddam said he got a call from O'Neill at about 6:45 a.m., shortly after I'll Have Another had come off the track during his last workout before the big race.
There's some swelling and heat in the horse's front left tendon, Reddam recalled O'Neill telling him.
"I remember the distinct quote: 'If he were a 50 claimer (available for $50,000), I wouldn't even think about," Reddam said.
But I'll Have Another was worth millions, so they decided to bring in a veterinarian to scan the horse's tendon with an ultrasound machine.
"OK, I think it's going to be nothing, but I'll call you after the scan," Reddam recalled O'Neill telling him. "His words when he called back were 'No bueno.' "
No good indeed.
"He was in shock," Reddam said of O'Neill.
Soon after, Reddam called Gutierrez, who was getting ready to head to the track, with I'll Have Another having been in the hands of an exercise rider. After hearing Reddam's voice, Gutierrez said, the jockey found a place to sit down.
"I just knew something had happened," Gutierrez said. "I loved that horse so much, of course I would do the same. It was the best decision we could make at the time."
Reddam, O'Neill and Gutierrez each said they think the horse could have run in the Belmont and won the race despite the injury.
"(O'Neill) thought he was so good that he could have won more or less running on three legs," Reddam said with a chuckle. "It's not like the horse is going to fall on the racetrack and cause a danger to himself and the rider and others.
"But there is a possibility that it would be very sore and he would have to pull up and we just thought that would be just a horrible black eye for racing."
They decided to retire the horse — "That was in his best interest," Reddam said — and there were howls of protest.
O'Neill faced allegations that he tried to mask the injury until it was too serious or that he pulled the horse from the race because drug testing would have detect an illegal substance.
At the time, O'Neill was facing a possible 180-day suspension for a 2010 incident in which one of his horses tested positive for a performance-enhancing formula known as a "milkshake." His horses had tested positive for the same combination of baking soda and electrolytes three other times.
O'Neill adamantly denies any wrongdoing and has criticized the protocols for drug testing in horse racing.
"There was a lot of false information that was being spewed out," he said about the 2012 Belmont Stakes. "But I didn't get caught up in any of it.. …You just try to take the high road."
I'll Have Another has taken the long road — all the way to Japan, where his new owners brought him after paying Reddam $10 million. He is at stud for a fee of about $30,000 and his first foal crop will race next year.
Reddam said he does not expect I'll Have Another to sire a Triple Crown champion because although the horse had a remarkable record — five victories in seven races — he has an unremarkable pedigree.
PHOTOS: Belmont Preparations