Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags has been retired because of a tendon injury in his left front leg.
The announcement on Saturday came a week after the colt's veterinarian had said he would be out with the injury but that his prognosis was "excellent" for a return to the races next year.
Russell Jones, adviser to the colt's owner, Phyllis Wyeth of Chadds Ford, says Union Rags is "a pretty attractive stallion prospect" and that there has been a high level of interest.
Trained by Michael Matz, Union Rags won the Saratoga Special as a 2-year-old, the Champagne Stakes, and was beaten by a head by Hansen after a troubled trip in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
As a 3-year-old, he won the Fountain of Youth Stakes, finished third in the Florida Derby, and seventh in the Kentucky Derby after being squeezed at the start of this year's race.
The colt skipped the Preakness and then won the 11/2-mile Belmont under jockey John Velazquez.
Jones said no decision has been made on where Union Rags will stand as a stallion, but he said Wyeth prefers the horse remain in the States.
"It's a love affair she had with this horse, and she doesn't want him to go somewhere where she can't find him," Jones said.
Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another was retired with a tendon injury the day before the Belmont, which ended his chance to become the first Triple Crown winner in 34 years. The colt was sold to Japanese interests and will begin his stallion career overseas.
AUTO RACING:Ryan Hunter-Reay bounced back from a rough opening day at Edmonton with a pole-winning run. Dario Franchitti qualified second but will start first on Sunday because Hunter-Reay was penalized Friday for unsportsmanlike conduct and changing his engine early. Ryan Briscoe qualified third.
Championship leader Fernando Alonso of Ferrari secured pole position on Saturday for the German Grand Prix, while two-time defending world champion Sebastian Vettel was second in his bid to win his home Formula One race for the first time in Hockenheim, Germany.
NFL:Mike Lynn, the longtime Minnesota Vikings executive who made the ill-fated trade with Dallas for Herschel Walker, has died. He was 76.
Mr. Lynn served as the team's general manager from 1975 to 1990. He is best remembered for one of the most lopsided trades in NFL history. The Vikings sent five players and seven draft picks to the Cowboys in 1989 for Walker, the running back Mr. Lynn considered the missing link to a Super Bowl run. Walker never panned out in Minnesota, and Dallas used the riches of players and picks to lay the groundwork for three Super Bowl wins in the 1990s.
TENNIS: No. 4 seed Andy Roddick beat top-seeded John Isner, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4, in the semifinals of the Atlanta Open. Roddick will play Luxembourg's Gilles Muller, who knocked off No. 8 Go Soeda of Japan, 6-4, 6-3, for his 32d ATP World Tour title. Roddick, who has won nine of his last 10 matches, will team up with Isner as U.S. doubles partners when the Olympics begin next week at Wimbledon.
- Inquirer wire services
