May 21, 1997
NEW YORK -- Maybe Captain Bodgit could have earned redemption next month at the Belmont Stakes. But now we'll never know.
The colt, which was beaten in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness by a total of less than a half-length, was retired Wednesday because of a leg injury.
"He was a truly admirable horse," Barry Irwin said Wednesday of Captain Bodgit, who was expected to again seriously challenge Silver Charm when the colt bids for the Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes on June 7.
IRWIN, WHO MANAGED CAPTAIN BODGIT'S career, told The Associated Press from his office at Pasadena, Calif., that his colt ruptured the "deep flexor tendon in the left foreleg."
Irwin said the injury was not to the bulging tendon in the left front leg with which the colt raced for his entire career.
"That just looks bad," Irwin said.
Irwin thinks the career-ending injury occurred in the Preakness last Saturday.
"He looked dead (no chance to win) with 100 yards to go," he said. "I think he just overextended himself. He just tried to hurl himself past those two horses."
CAPTAIN BODGIT FINISHED THIRD in the Preakness, a head behind Free House, who was a head behind Silver Charm. In the Derby, he was second, a head behind Silver Charm.
"He doesn't even know he's injured," trainer Gary Capuano said from his barn at Bowie, Md., where Captain Bodgit was to have prepared for the Belmont. "He's in no pain, he jogs sound and is ready to go again right now. That's him."
Irwin said that the first day after the race there was no evidence of anything wrong.
"Monday morning, Gary called me and said there was filling," he said. "He called a vet who told him to use a medication to draw the filling. Then an ultrasound scan was made yesterday and a lesion was found in the tendon."
Captain Bodgit won five of six starts as a 2-year-old and opened his 3-year-old campaign by finishing third in the Holy Bull on Jan. 18. Irwin and his partner, Jeff Siegel, who race as Team Valor, then bought the Florida-bred colt for $500,000 and put together a 32-member syndicate.
CAPTAIN BODGIT EARNED $1,014,819 on a record of seven wins, one second and four thirds. Of the earnings, $867,100 came after his purchase by Team Valor.
The colt now will be sold.
"I think there will be some inquiries from Japan and Kentucky," Irwin said. "We will take the most attractive offer.''
After the Holy Bull, the stretch-running Captain Bodgit came from far back to finish third in the Fountain of Youth. He then won the Florida Derby and Wood Memorial and went to the post as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby.
"I think what made him such a good horse was he had such depth to him -- having stamina, being so explosive," Irwin said.
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas on:
