Uncontested Euthanized After Contracting Laminitis

Multiple stakes winner Uncontested was euthanized Dec. 8 because of laminitis, said the 5-year-old horse's co-owner, Harry Rosenblum of Little Rock, Ark. 

Rosenblum said Uncontested fractured a bone in a foot galloping in September at Churchill Downs and was sent to Kentucky Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center in Versailles, Ky., but "in the last couple of weeks, his condition just deteriorated … and we had to make the humane decision."

Uncontested, previously under the care of trainer Wayne Catalano, set race records for time (1:36.32) and margin of victory (5 1/4 lengths) in the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes in 2017 at Oaklawn Park, a mile event that is the track's first of four Road to the Kentucky Derby points races. 

At Laurel Park, Uncontested narrowly missed the six-furlong track record in a December 2018 allowance victory and the seven-furlong track record in winning the $250,000 General George Stakes (G3) Feb. 16 for trainer Jennifer Patterson.

In his final start, the son of Tiz Wonderful equaled the seven-furlong track record (timed in fifths of a second) at Saratoga Race Course in an Aug. 15 allowance victory for trainer Tom Amoss. He stopped the clock in 1:20.52, which translated to 1:20 2/5 in fifths of a second and equaled Darby Creek Road's record set in 1978, when races were not yet timed in hundredths of a second.

Uncontested also flirted with the 6 1/2-furlong track record at Keeneland when he won his October 2016 debut by six lengths. The runner-up in that race, Untrapped, also became a grade 3 winner before being euthanized in June 2018 because of laminitis. 

Overall, Kentucky-bred Uncontested won six of 18 starts and earned $457,453. Rosenblum, who purchased Uncontested for $20,000 from the Forbush Farm consignment of breeder Richard Forbush to the 2015 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, raced the horse in partnership with Robert LaPenta.

"Tough business," Rosenblum said.