alydar278

^Negative. Bramlage, the on-call doctor for all major horse races, did not personally inspect IHA. He stated that IHA's vets went through the whole process with the ultrasound exam, etc.

Yes cocoa2, thanks for commenting. I wasn't doubting either of the articles that were brought up in this thread; rather I was not impressed with the tendonitis and general scratch/retirement explanations that emanated from the IHA camp and from Larry Bramlage on Friday/Saturday. Although the difference between the two was that Bramlage stated IHA would have performed "subpar" on raceday, whereas O'Neill/Reddam said he probably could have won.

Well that article is certainly a far cry from the Bramlage's explanation (which I quoted previously) of tendonitis beng "a minor injury," and the equivalent of "an ankle sprain in people."

You're welcome to those who enjoyed the article on tendonitis. Thanks for the comments and contributions on this issue. To the above post, I would only say that I'll Have Another showed no signs of lameness, which is commonly absent in the early stages of tendonitis. All things considered, I'm not discounting tendonitis as a significant injury for a competitive thoroughbreds; however, there was A LOT at stake here. More than just your annual Belmont Stakes, more than just a possible Triple Crown Champion. I don't want to be melodramatic, but to many IHA, and possibly his capturing of the Triple Crown, represented a new breath of life for thoroughbred horse racing. It makes me wonder about the decision to scratch IHA, the way it was explained, and the aspects of that explanation that were missing (as has been discussed above in regards to his retirement). When I say this, I am separating Friday's announcement into two separate issues: scratcing IHA for the Belmont, and retiring him. As I said, there was a lot riding on this race, especially with all of the close Triple Crown contenders going back to the late 90s- Silver Charm, Real Quiet, War Emblem, Funny Cide, Smarty Jones, Big Brown, etc.. Horse racing fans needed this. If O'Neill and Reddam thought that IHA could have raced and could have won, as they stated, I have to question- at least in part- their final decision. Otherwise, they should have stated otherwise and provided a more clear explanation for why they retired him as a result of tendonitis.

http://versita.metapress.com/content/q11qw53387073p83/

Here is an interesting study on tendonitis in thoroughbreds. It goes on to state that the foremost factor in a thoroughbreds' chance on returning to racing following tendonitis depends on the lesion length of the inflamed tendon. Thoroughbreds with a lesion length from 1 to 16 cm have between a 40 to 55% chance of returning to race with a degree of success.

Thanks for the comments. I’m certainly interested in other’s insight into this rather puzzling situation. The thing is Dr. Larry Bramlage, the Vet who examined IHA’s tendon mentioned nothing of possible future bone damage and displacement if the three-year old were to have made a come back. He actually stated that this injury was the equaivalent of “an ankle sprain in people.” He stated that it is “a relatively minor injury.” He indicated that it could take up to a year to FULLY recover, but only mentioned that “because he is a stallion prospect, that could hurt his value.” Those explanations just seem way too vague for my taste, especially for a thoroughbred prospect that most everyone had such high hopes for becoming the 12th Triple Crown Champion.

Question that nobody has pressed on O' Neill or Reddam. Reddam stated that he wanted IHA to compete in his 4th and 5th years, so what's stopping him? Citation had tendonitis as well for his 1949 season and still came back to pass the $1 million dollar mark for the first time in thoroughbred racing history. Why retire a horse that could recover from this injury in 6 months? What was also frustrating was the fact that both O' Neill and Reddam kept saying that IHA could have run and won.... Just an extremely frustrating Belmont this year, especially with what the IHA camp was and wasn't saying.