Mo Donegal Sidelined for 60 Days With Bone Bruising
Image:
Description:
Mo Donegal wins the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park
Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) winner Mo Donegal exited the 1 1/2-mile race June 11 with bone bruising and will be out of training for 60 days, co-owner Donegal Racing announced July 2.
Jerry Crawford, CEO of Donegal Racing, and co-owner Mike Repole of Repole Stable indicated they will share Mo Donegal's progress as the colt continues to be evaluated.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Mo Donegal is currently the top-ranked 3-year-old in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's weekly poll in a wide-open division that saw three different horses win the legs of the Triple Crown. Mo Donegal's two-month break will keep him out of the Aug. 27 Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, a race that along with the Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup races in November, is among the most influential stakes in determining championship honors.
A 3-year-old son of Uncle Mo , Mo Donegal has won four of seven starts while earning $1.5 million, including victories in the Remsen Stakes (G2) at 2 and this year's Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino (G2) and the Belmont. He was a slow-starting fifth behind Rich Strike when breaking from the inside post in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) between those two victories.
In taking the Belmont, Mo Donegal scored by three lengths over the filly Nest , a stablemate of Mo Donegal.
Nest resumed breezing July 1 for Pletcher, working a half-mile over Belmont Park training track in :51.06. Mo Donegal has not breezed since the Belmont.
This story will be updated.