HARLAN’S HOLIDAY COLT WAS NATION’S LEADING SPRINTER; RACING FUTURE IN DOUBT

(Tracksideview.com and Saratoga Race Course report)

Trainer Steve Asmussen’s week got worse Sunday morning when his leading sprinter Majesticperfection suffered a condylar fracture in his right foreleg during a workout at Saratoga Race Course.

Sasha Sanan, racing manager for Padua Stables, said the injury could lead to the colt’s retirement. “We’ll wait and see how the surgery goes and what the doctor’s take on it is after surgery,” Sanan said. “It could be career-ending, not positive.”

Majesticperfection was scheduled to undergo surgery at the Saratoga Equine Clinic and Dr. Alan Nixon would insert one screw to stabilize the cannon bone, according Sanan.

Asmussen’s barn suffered a blow on Aug. 29 with reigning Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra was upset in the mile-and-a-quarter Personal Ensign by Persistently. On the next day, Monday, Kartharos, his leading two-year-old fractured sesamoids during a workout on the Oklahoma training track as was retired. Stonestreet Stable owns both Rachel Alexandra and Kantharos.

Majesticperfection is a 4-year-old son of Harlan’s Holiday and has won five of six starts including victories in the Iowa Sprint Handicap and the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga. He set a track record of 1:07.24 for six furlongs in the Iowa race. He earned Beyer’s of 117 and 115, respectively, for those races.

“Obviously, very disappointing,” Satish Sanan, head of Padua Stables said. “Devastating to be honest with you. We’ve been high on this horse since he won at Oaklawn (in April). The Vanderbilt was a defining race for him; he showed what he could do at Saratoga.

“This is a very tough game,” Sanan added. “We lost Odysseus and then you lose this one; it’s a very tough game.”

Odysseus was a leading 3-year-old earlier this year who died on Aug. 9 due to complications from laminitis.