Rich Strike Re-Injured, Retirement Likely

[Wandering Eyes]

As first reported by Horse Racing Nation, 80-1 GI Kentucky Derby shocker Rich Strike (Keen Ice) has suffered another setback due to an injury sustained during a training session in New York.

According to an interview with the publication, Rich Strike had been in training with Bill Mott up at Saratoga when a ligament tear was discovered in his left front leg, albeit in a different location from the previous suspensory ligament injury, and he was sent back to Margaux Farm in Midway, KY.

“I'll know exactly what I'm going to do in 60 days,” owner Rick Dawson told HRN. “I would say we're 99 percent–at this point–probably moving to retirement and trying to work out some kind of stallion deal for him.”

Rich Strike returned to the work tab July 9 after a hiatus which lasted well over a year and had managed to put in another three workouts, the last being Aug. 7 over the Oklahoma training track, but with this latest setback, Dawson admits he's ready to call it a career for the stallion. He told HRN that he's leaning harder toward retirement and selling the entire this fall to start a breeding career next spring.

“I have no interest in some long-term, drawn-out rehab,” Dawson commented to HRN. “I haven't talked to Dr. [Larry] Bramlage about what his expectations are, if everything goes perfect.”

“When I started this a year and a half ago, I was pretty much convinced we had a 20 to 25 percent chance.”

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