| |
 Charismatic has surgery on broken leg
Posted: Monday June 07, 1999 05:50 PM
NEW YORK (CNN/SI) -- Charismatic may not race again, but D. Wayne Lukas can already look ahead to next years Triple Crown races with hope. "I've had just three of the most beautiful works you'll ever see," Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said early Sunday morning at Belmont Park. He was talking about the workouts of three 2-year-old colts from his barn. A few hours later, the 3-year-old colt Charismatic was led from Lukas' barn, put on a van and taken to a nearby veterinarian clinic for surgery. Four screws were put into his left foreleg to repair fractures of the cannon bone and sesamoid. What happened to the great grandson of Secretariat on Saturday while finishing third behind Lemon Drop Kid and Vision and Verse in the Belmont Stakes in an unsuccessful bid for the Triple Crown was a reminder that injury and death are only a hoof beat away. Lemon Drop Kid, who paid $61.50, is being pointed to the Jim Dandy and Travers in August at Saratoga. Charismatic will never race again. His career now will be that of a stallion. "He was absolutely a maintenance-free horse," Lukas said of the robust chestnut colt. "He's had one vitamin shot since I've been training him." Dr. Stephen Selway, who performed the 21/2-hour surgery on Charismatic, said the injury "was not the worst of this kind I've ever seen, but it was a nasty one. He'll be fine." Selway said Charismatic's left leg was fitted with a cast, and if he is shipped by airplane, he should be ready to travel in a few days. "Everything went smoothly in terms of everyone getting to the horse quickly," Selway said. "I don't know if Chris Antley necessarily saved his life, but he certainly helped in preventing any further damage." The 63-year-old Lukas, as familiar with the ups and downs of racing, of the adulation and criticism as anybody, said one of his duties Sunday was to lift the spirits of his employees. "I have to keep going," he said. "I told them, 'Boy, aren't we lucky the way the horse is handling this. He's going to have a future. We didn't lose the horse.'" A crowd of 85,818, the largest in New York racing history, was attracted by Charismatic's bid to become the 12th Triple Crown champion and the first since Affirmed in 1978. They also came for a possible showdown between Charismatic and the filly Silverbulletday, winner of 11 of 12 starts, who was making her debut against colts. Silverbulletday finished seventh in the 12 -horse field, one spot ahead of Menifee, the runner-up in the Derby and Preakness. The crowd cheered the duel between Charismatic and Silverbulletday for the first mile of the testing 1 1/2-mile classic. Fans roared as Charismatic tried mightily to hold off Lemon Drop Kid and Vision and Verse in the stretch. Then the crowd turned quiet as not long past the wire, jockey Chris Antley pulled up Charismatic and dismounted. Soon the horse ambulance arrived to take the stricken warrior back to his barn. "There's a certain element of the public, even my wife [Laura], who is a [quarter-horse] trainer, that can't handle this part of the game," Lukas said. "We can't always play out these Hollywood scripts the way we want to," Lukas added. Charismatic had caught the public imagination by going from running in a claiming race in February to challenging for the Triple Crown in June. Neither Scotty Schulhofer, trainer of Lemon Drop Kid, who finished ninth in the Kentucky Derby and skipped the Preakness, nor Bob Baffert, Silverbulletday's trainer, were at Belmont Park on Sunday. Schulhofer's son and assistant, Randy, said his father went home to Hallandale, Fla., for a break and would return Wednesday. As Lemon Drop Kid crossed the finish line, a head in front of Vision and Verse, with Charismatic another 1 1/2 lengths back, Randy Schulhofer turned to his 72-year-old father and said, "Do you believe that?" "Yes, I do," said the trainer who has maintained Lemon Drop Kid is as nice a colt as he's had in his Hall of Fame career. Trainer Bill Mott said plans were uncertain for Vision and Verse, the Illinois Derby winner, who was trying to become the first Belmont winner not to have started in the Kentucky Derby or Preakness since the Schulhofer-trained Colonial Affair in 1993. Peter Hutton, an assistant to Baffert, said Silverbulletday will be flown back to Churchill Downs at Louisville, Ky. On Saturday, Baffert praised jockey Jerry Bailey for "wrapping up" the filly and not using her when it became apparent in the upper stretch she could not win. Antley was praised by owner Bob Lewis and Lukas for his quick action on pulling up Charismatic when it became apparent to him something was wrong. Antley's action in sending Charismatic to press the pace-setting filly through the first mile before taking the lead approaching the quarter pole, was questioned by some observers, but not by Lukas. "If I had to draw it up on paper, I wouldn't have had him that close," Lukas said, "but he was doing it so easy. You don't want to give up anything that comes easy in a horse race. The horse is always right."
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | |||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||
