Horse Racing Betting - Big Brown's injury

Triple Crown hopeful Big Brown is responding well to treatment for a quarter crack and could return to the track Wednesday.

Trainer Rick Dutrow announced Sunday morning at Belmont Park that the undefeated colt had not trained since Friday because of a condition foot specialist Ian McKinlay termed "very minor."

Both expressed optimism that the quarter crack ailment could be cleared up within a few days, and in the "best-case scenario" the Kentucky Derby-Preakness winner could return to the track "Wednesday or Thursday."

A quarter crack is a vertical crack in the hoof wall between the toe and heel of the hoof, usually extending into the coronary band, where the hoof meets the skin of the leg. For the most part, the injury is fairly common and not considered serious. Healing time can range from a few days to a few months, depending on the severity of the crack.

Quarter cracks are caused by hard pounding on the track, thin hoof walls or poor conformation. Big Brown suffered a quarter crack and hoof separation on his inner right front hoof last fall and was treated by McKinlay. The horse then suffered a similar injury in December to his inner left front hoof. Big Brown, who is undefeated in five starts, did not race between his debut Sept. 3 and March 5.

Mike Iavarone, Big Brown's majority owner said that this injury is different from the ones that sidelined him previously.McKinlay said the earlier injuries were abscesses, first in his left hoof, and then the right and they caused wall separations. McKinlay said they were mistakenly referred to as quarter cracks.

"If the [Belmont Stakes] were today, the horse would go out and kick butt. It would not bother him," Dutrow said. "I'm not worried that the days of training he'll miss will have any effect on him. We're addressing it, and he'll be fine. We're all concerned, but Ian has got us pretty well relaxed."

The 3-year-old colt is attempting to become the first winner of racing's Triple Crown in 30 years.

"We didn't know until Saturday that it was a quarter crack," said Dutrow. "It scares us this happened, but this has nothing to do with his ability to finish what he started.

"He's been as aggressive as I've seen him. He's really been rank in the afternoon."

McKinlay, who is treating Big Brown with a combination of iodine and alcohol, has repaired more severe injuries. He helped Touch Gold fight off a leg injury from the 1997 Preakness and go on to win the Belmont and spoil Silver Charm's Triple Crown try.

Describing this as a much simpler task, McKinlay said, "This is a very, very minor crack. We'll put a set of wires in, stitch it up and then patch it."

Only Burgoo King (1932) and Bold Venture (1936) won the Derby and the Preakness but were unable to run in the Belmont due to injury.

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