Exogenous Injured in Mishap Before Race

By BILL CHRISTINE

Oct. 28, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

ELMONT, N.Y. — Whether she’ll ever race again is unclear, but at least veterinarians were able to sedate Exogenous, drag her into the van that removed her from the track and treat her neurological injuries with steroids.

When Exogenous, one of the favorites in the Distaff, flipped just as she was about to enter the track for Saturday’s first Breeders’ Cup race, jockey Javier Castellano was unseated and the filly caught her right rear leg in a gate that would have been closed after the entire field had cleared the paddock tunnel. Handlers were able to extricate the leg before she injured it, but Exogenous suffered injuries to the base of her skull.

“She has done well after we got her back to her barn,” said Wayne McIlwraith, one of the veterinarians at Belmont Park.

“She responded to treatment rapidly.”

Vernon Heath, the owner of Exogenous, had promised 10% of her earnings to the American Red Cross in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on New York.

Castellano was not injured. The other Distaff horses were returned to the paddock and the start of the race was delayed 10 minutes.

Later on the card, Jump Start was pulled up by Pat Day after running 11th in the Juvenile.

McIlwraith said that trainer Wayne Lukas’ colt suffered a fracture of the left front fetlock joint. Jump Start is to have surgery today to fuse the fracture. The injury is not life-threatening but might mark the end of the colt’s career.

Tiznow became the fifth horse to win a second Breeders’ Cup race. The others were Miesque in the 1987-88 Mile; Bayakoa in the 1989-90 Distaff; Lure in the 1992-93 Mile; and Da Hoss in the 1996 and 1998 Mile.

Co-owner Mike Cooper said Tiznow might race once more this year, in the Hollywood Turf Cup on Dec. 1.

That would be Tiznow’s first start on grass. In 15 dirt starts, he has won eight times, finished second four times and third twice. Saturday’s win, worth $2,080,000, increased his winnings to $6.4 million.

Chris McCarron, who rode Tiznow in both of his Classic wins, had previous victories in the stake with Alysheba in 1988, Sunday Silence in 1989 and Alphabet Soup in 1996.

The race for horse-of-the-year honors will be between Point Given, who was retired in September because of a tendon injury, and Tiznow.

Point Given, winner of the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, as well as the Santa Anita Derby, never raced against older horses.

“Is horse of the year for best overall accomplishment or the best horse?” McCarron said. “It’s too late now, of course, but I would have welcomed the chance to run Tiznow against Point Given.”

In only one Breeders’ Cup did favorites do as poorly as they did Saturday, when Fantastic Light was the only public choice to win.

In 1989, Bayakoa was the only favorite to win. There were only seven races that year, one less than Saturday.