Bramlage: Surgery for Just Steel 'Went Really Well'

Just Steel , who exited a fifth-place finish in the May 18 Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course with a right front leg fracture, is doing well following surgery, renowned veterinary surgeon Dr. Larry Bramlage said May 22.

Speaking during a video interview recorded Wednesday and published that afternoon on X by Light Up Racing, a group committed to promoting Thoroughbred racing and the care racehorses receive, Bramlage described Just Steel's fracture as somewhat unusual "in that it's not just a straight line."

Just Steel, who recently sustained a condylar fracture of the RF fetlock during the Preakness Stakes, has successfully undergone surgery and is now on the path to recovery.

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"It's shaped like an upside-down Y," he continued. "So it has a V-shaped piece at the joint surface that we had to trap between two pieces of bone, but the surgery went really well. We put two screws in, and he walked out of surgery sound after we walked him in lame. So that's generally a good sign. He's still sound this morning." 

As with other surgeries involving horses, complications can sometimes occur during postoperation recovery.

"We're not out of the woods for two months because we have to see how that piece of bone heals," the Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital veterinarian said. "But this is a very good start, and we're happy with where we are today."

BC Stables and Henry Schmueckle's Just Steel was one of two horses Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas ran in the Preakness Stakes, the other of which was victorious MyRacehorse's Seize the Grey . A 3-year-old son of Justify  , Just Steel is 2-for-13 with $784,545 in earnings.