Bluegrass Cat retires

[WildKat]

Bluegrass Cat retired after Travers fracture
Not considered life-threatening

By Jennie Rees
jrees@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal



SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Bluegrass Cat yesterday morning was discovered to have fractured his right hind pastern while finishing second in Saturday's Travers Stakes and has been retired, trainer Todd Pletcher and WinStar Farm president Doug Cauthen said.

Pletcher said the colt, who finished second in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont before taking the Grade I Haskell Invitational, showed no signs of a problem in the hours after the race but was lame yesterday morning. X-rays of the fracture will be sent to two Lexington clinics for consultation on whether surgery is recommended on the non-displaced fracture, Cauthen said. The injury isn't life-threatening.



"It's obviously very disappointing when you have your leading earner and top 3-year-old get injured," Pletcher said. "But what it emphasizes to me is that this is a horse of tremendous quality, tremendous courage to get injured in a race like this and still run as well as he did. … While we're all very disappointed he's not going to be going to the Breeders' Cup Classic, we're looking forward to hopefully a brilliant stud career."

By Storm Cat and out of an A.P. Indy mare from a strong Phipps family bloodline, the three-time graded stakes winner Bluegrass Cat was already assured a prime spot in WinStar's stallion barn. But Pletcher said the fact that he was able to tack on a Grade I victory on top of a sterling 2-year-old season was "huge, gigantic."

"He's got everything you look for in a stallion prospect," he said. "He has great 2-year-old form, a graded stakes winner at 2 and carried that on to a Grade I winner at 3. He was second in two legs of the classics. In the Haskell, it was not only that he won a Grade I, but the fashion in which he did it was spectacular."

Bluegrass Cat retires with a 5-4-0 record in 11 starts, earning $1,761,280.

"It could have been worse," Cauthen said. "Obviously we've all seen terrible injuries to horses like Barbaro. We're blessed to have a horse this great, not only in talent as a race horse, but to have him retire and have an opportunity to go on and be a great stallion. That's what we're in the business for: to race and stand top sires."

Cauthen said no stud fee has been determined, but "I think he's going to be in the top tier, above $50,000."



Will there be any horses runnning at the Breeders Cup this year?