Casino Drive Off The 2008 Belmont Stakes
ELMONT, NEW YORK (TICKER)–Casino Drive has been scratched from Saturday’s Belmont Stakes due to a bruised left hind hoof, according to the Schenectady Gazette.
Considered the main threat to foil Big Brown‘s bid at winning the Triple Crown in the final leg, Casino Drive seemed to be healthy during Saturday morning’s workout. But according to the report, the horse appeared to be favoring the hoof after returning to the stables.
“This morning we check and he is OK,” Nobutaka Tada, racing manager for Japanese owner Hidetoshi Yamamoto, told the Gazette. “We send him to the main track and he had cantering, and he came back to the yard OK, no problem. Then, (again) he just (started) carrying his hind (leg). We checked again and it became warm.”
The 3-year-old Japanese-bred was listed as “questionable” after skipping his morning workout on Friday after trainer Kazuo Fujisawa noticed the colt wasn’t walking normally.
Casino Drive was listed at 7-2 on the morning line and was coming off an impressive win in the Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park on May 10.
Despite making his debut on the Triple Crown trail, Casino Drive comes from championship stock as he is the half-brother of the last two Belmont Stakes winners, Jazil (2006) and Rags to Riches (2007).
Big Brown, who is attempting to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, had an acrylic patch applied on Friday to repair a slight quarter crack in his left front hoof.
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"Casino Drive Off The 2008 Belmont Stakes" was posted on 7 June 2008 11:03 AM under Belmont Stakes, Horse Racing News, Horses, Special Features, Stakes Races
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