Grade 3 winner CHELOKEE (Cherokee Run) was feeling playful Saturday morning,
one day after suffering torn suspensory ligaments in his right front leg during the
stretch run of Friday’s Alysheba S. (G3).
“He tore the ligaments in the bottom of his (right front) ankle,” explained
Dr. Larry Bramlage, the on-call veterinarian for the American Association of
Equine Practitioners. “It’s those ligaments, the suspensory apparatus, that
make a horse able to do what they do. The bones that went up the side of the leg
that they thought was a fracture on the ambulance were actually sesamoid bones
pulled five centimeters out of place. They’re dislocated.
“Amazingly, with such a good athlete, the (injury) didn’t go through the
skin. Everything else went when he dislocated the ankle because his leg was
flopping out to the side. So almost all the support went, but he was able to
stay up,” Bramlage continued. “We protected the leg. It’s incredible for what he
did to not do more damage than he did. Because if it (the injury) goes out
through the skin and bones get exposed to the racetrack surface, that’s usually
the last straw.”
The Michael Matz-trained Chelokee took a bad step at the head of the stretch
in the Alysheba, and it was first reported the four-year-old had suffered a
condylar fracture of his right front leg. That initial report brought back
poignant memories of Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Barbaro, also trained by Matz,
who suffered a similar injury in his right hind leg.
Chelokee was transported by horse ambulance to Rood and Riddle Equine
Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, on Friday. Bramlage said that the dark bay’s
attitude was good Saturday morning.
“We actually had to put a traffic cone in his stall because he needed
something to play with,” Bramlage said. “He was trying to pull his IV line out
of the ceiling. He actually did it once, pulled it out of the bag just because
he’s looking around for something to do.”
Bramlage said Chelokee’s chances of recovery are “50-50” but couldn’t say
when surgery on the colt would take place.
“We won’t know that until after I see the soft tissue early in the week,” he
explained.
Later on Saturday, Bramlage announced that Chelokee’s cast had been changed
earlier in the day.
“He’s actually doing quite well. His soft tissue swelling is greatly reduced.
His blood supply is improving to the lower part of his leg. He will need a
fetlock athrodesis, a fusion of the fetlock, trying to restabilize his leg. That
will happen sometime this week.
“His attitude couldn’t be better. He’s eating well, moving around his stall.
He’s in a special type of cast for this particular injury. His progress is good.
“Somebody asked what the odds are. They’re probably still about 50-50. He has
to have a good surgical procedure, and he has to come through it well and he has
to be stabilized in his ankle.”
Bramlage went on to explain about the mix-up regarding the initial report on
Chelokee’s injury being a condylar fracture.
“Another question is why was the initial report from the ambulance that he
had a similar injury to Barbaro when he didn’t have any fractures. Well, he had
a dislocated ankle, the same as Barbaro; his lower leg stuck out to the side
like Barbaro’s; and he had a piece of bone sticking up alongside of the cannon
bone, which was like Barbaro’s. Nine times out of 10 that will be a condylar
fracture, and that’s what the ambulance reported.
“When we took the X-ray, that piece of bone that’s up beside his ankle was
actually the sesamoid bone, but it’s 2 1/2 inches out of place so they couldn’t
tell in the ambulance that that wasn’t a condylar fracture.”