Belmont Winner Union Rags Out for 2012 Season With Leg Injury

Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags will miss the remainder of the 2012 racing season with a front left leg injury.

The 3-year-old colt was checked by a veterinarian after he galloped two days ago and showed signs of fluid.

“The vet felt it was nothing, but did an ultrasound just to make sure,” trainer Michael Matz told Blood Horse magazine. “That’s when we discovered the slight tear in the suspensory. The prognosis is four to six months off and there should be no sign of it after that.”

Union Rags has won five of eight career races, giving him earnings of almost $1.8 million. He placed seventh in the Kentucky Derby, skipped the Preakness Stakes and won the Belmont, the final leg of thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown.

“‘We’re all very disappointed,” Matz said. “This just came at a bad time. It’s so small you would never be able to tell there’s anything wrong with him.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Nancy Kercheval in Washington at nkercheval@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net