Injury Proves Fatal for Stakes Winner Trigger Warning
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Photo: Conrad Photo
Trigger Warning edges Bobby's Wicked One by a nose in the Steel Valley Sprint Stakes Nov. 19 at Mahoning Valley Race Course
Moments after prevailing in a stretch-long duel to secure the biggest stakes win of his career, Trigger Warning suffered what would prove to be a catastrophic injury.
Trigger Warning broke down after winning the $250,000 Steel Valley Sprint Stakes Nov. 19 at Mahoning Valley Race Course. Trainer Mike Rone said Nov. 21 that the injuries—condylar and sesamoid fractures to his left front—proved to be too substantial and Trigger Warning was euthanized.
Rone said such injuries are the worst part of horse racing.
"He took me to places I dreamed of going, the Travers, Breeders' Cup, all over," Rone said. "He opened up a lot of doors for me."
Trigger Warning's nose victory over Bobby's Wicked One in the Steel Valley Sprint followed an off-the-board finish in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) by the 3-year-old son of Candy Ride . Campaigned by Jim Thompson's Brinley Enterprises, Trigger Warning earned a grade 1-placing in this year's Pennsylvania Derby after his off-the-board finish in the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1).
Bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm, Trigger Warning also earned graded stakes placings in this year's Ohio Derby and Indiana Derby (both G3). Those efforts followed Trigger Warning securing his first stakes win in the Tom Ridge Stakes in May at Presque Isle Downs. He started at eight different tracks this season.