ANIMAL KINGDOM DONE FOR YEAR WITH FRACTURE

Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}) will miss the remainder of his 3-year-old season with a slab fracture, it was announced Wednesday. The Team Valor International colorbearer was originally diagnosed with a small fissure at the tip of his left hind cannon bone two weeks ago. “A second set of films has revealed a slab fracture just above the small fissure noted in the previous images,” Team Valor CEO Barry Irwin commented. Dr. Dean Richardson of New Bolton Research Center in Pennsylvania will insert a screw to compress the fracture Thursday. Animal Kingdom, a game second in the GI Preakness S. and an eventful sixth in the GI Belmont S., will rehab for three months before returning to training at Graham Motion’s Fair Hill base. The chestnut will be pointed toward the 2012 G1 Dubai World Cup, according to Irwin. “I think that Henry Cecil proved it was possible to train a colt in a cold climate like England and win well with him off the plane in Dubai, as he did with Twice Over (GB) (Observatory) last year,” Irwin explained. “Graham and I have talked about this. No decision will be made for a while. But running Animal Kingdom in the World Cup without a prep is definitely something to consider.”