St. Liam put down

[WildKat]

Saint Liam, '05 horse of the year, put down
Saint Liam, last year’s Horse of the Year, was euthanized Tuesday after the first-year stallion fractured a hind leg while being led to his paddock at Lane’s End Farm.
By Gregory A. Hall
ghall@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal


Saint Liam, last year’s Horse of the Year, was euthanized Tuesday after the first-year stallion fractured a hind leg while being led to his paddock at Lane’s End Farm.

Lexington veterinarian Larry Bramlage said Saint Liam fell with his left hind leg beneath his abdomen, breaking his tibia in so many pieces that surgery was impossible.

“They’re wonderfully made for their limbs going forward and back but, especially in the hind limb, … they don’t have very much bend side to side,” he said.

Bred in Kentucky by Edward P. Evans, Saint Liam was sold for $130,000 by Lane’s End at the 2001 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings auction. Agent Mike Ryan bought him on behalf of William and Suzanne Warren.

Racing for the Warrens and trained primarily by Richard Dutrow Jr., the son of Saint Ballado earned $4,456,995 in 20 career starts over three years. He won nine races with six seconds and one third.

Two of Saint Liam’s biggest wins came at Churchill Downs — the 2004 Clark Handicap as a 4-year-old and the 2005 Stephen Foster Handicap.

Saint Liam won four Grade I races last year, including the Foster and the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Belmont Park, before being retired and chosen by thoroughbred industry participants as Horse of the Year.

Owned by a syndicate, Saint Liam stood at Lane’s End for a $50,000 live foal stud fee and had 115 mares in foal, according to the Woodford County farm.

Farm officials were not available for comment Tuesday night.

According to a Lane’s End statement, Saint Liam first was examined by veterinarian Peter Pryor and then transported to Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, where Bramlage examined him.

Bramlage said he was told that Saint Liam was “just goofing around” when he fell. The veterinarian compared it to a human doing a belly flop with one leg across in front of the other.

“He basically just sat down,” Bramlage said. “If they flip over on their side, they don’t break anything most of the time.”

Tibia injuries are rare for an adult horse, Bramlage said. It’s more common in young horses whose bones aren’t as strong.

The tibia is in the upper half of the leg between the stifle and the hock.

“The fractures were all in the bottom half of the bone, and it was broken into about 20 pieces,” Bramlage said. “And there was no intact piece anywhere above the hock — nothing to anchor any sort of screws or plates or any fixation in.”

Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro is recovering from surgery in Pennsylvania after breaking down in the May 20 Preakness Stakes. Barbaro had a plate and screws inserted in his lower right hind leg to repair fractures and is wearing a cast.

With a high leg injury like Saint Liam’s, Bramlage said, “a cast is not effective, and the fracture was also open through the skin, so infection was going to be a big problem, and the fracture just left us with no repair options.”

Barbaro’s fractures did not break the skin.

“It’s a tough go,” Bramlage said, also noting the recent diagnosis of terminal cancer in last year’s champion sprinter Lost in the Fog. “We’ve had a bunch of nice horses with medical problems.”


Several big time horses have had some bad luck this year.....Lets hope this is it for awhile. This horse was a good one.

[rjb1816]

i have a question...do they shoot the horses right on the track? cuz they shot the horse with something on sunday when i was at Del Mar and he flew straight backwards past the screen...it was crazy

[WildKat]

hmmmm I think that they normally give the horse a shot, but I think that if possible, they do it in the equine ambulance. Maybe the horse was out of control and the had to shoot it with a tranqualizer. What screen do you speak of? I've never seen anyone shoot a horse, unless it was in a western.

[rjb1816]

Originally Posted by WildKat

hmmmm I think that they normally give the horse a shot, but I think that if possible, they do it in the equine ambulance. Maybe the horse was out of control and the had to shoot it with a tranqualizer. What screen do you speak of? I've never seen anyone shoot a horse, unless it was in a western.

they may have been shooting it with a tranquilizer...but the horse went out cold and flew backwards. its the screen they hold up when they're looking at/putting down the horse on the track so people cant see and the cameras can't show it