06/11/2012 1:36PM

I'll Have Another leaves Belmont Park for Hollywood home

By David Grening
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I'll Have Another
I'll Have Another, whose scratch from the Belmont Stakes ended his Triple Crown bid, was headed back to California on Monday.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The cameras that heralded his arrival some 22 days ago were non-existent Monday morning when I’ll Have Another left Barn 9 at Belmont Park and was loaded onto a horse trailer.

Only the crew that had been with him on the Triple Crown journey and a few members of trainer Mark Hennig’s staff – Hennig is based in Barn 9 – were around to bid farewell to I’ll Have Another, four stablemates and their famous stable pony Lava Man.

So it was that at 8:28 a.m. a steel-gray van left Belmont Park headed for Republic Airport in Farmingdale, N.Y. I’ll Have Another, scratched from the Belmont Stakes on Friday with a tendon injury and subsequently retired, was to be flown cross-country on a Tex Sutton plane that was to stop in Louisville, dropping off, among others, the champion 3-year-old filly Royal Delta for Saturday’s Grade 2 Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs.

I’ll Have Another was to arrive in Southern California late Monday afternoon when he would be bedded down at trainer Doug O’Neill’s Hollywood Park barn for the immediate future. One can bet there will be ceremonies held at Hollywood Park to salute the Kentucky Derby and Preakness hero, but none has been announced yet.

Back at Belmont, assistant trainer Jack Sisterson – who arrived at Belmont with I’ll Have Another on May 20 – gave thanks to O’Neill and I’ll Have Another for the thrills of a Triple Crown run.

“All the guys are just so happy to have been part of the Triple Crown journey,” Sisterson said. “Obviously, it wasn’t the most ideal ending, but you know the horse is happy that he’s going off to a great career now.”

After participating in a brief retirement ceremony Saturday in the Belmont winner’s circle immediately after the running of the Manhattan Handicap, I’ll Have Another was brought back to Barn 9. Sisterson said he and other members of O’Neill’s team watched the Belmont Stakes – in which Union Rags beat Paynter by a neck – on a television in Hennig’s office.

“It was a bit of a bummer,” Sisterson said, “but congratulations to Michael Matz and the connections. They did a fantastic job.”

Anonymous More than 1 year ago
Some one please: post the confirmation of IHA going all the way back and see who he came from ?
Sam More than 1 year ago
Sso what's your point? He won the Derby and Preakness and did not run in the Belmont. You need only to go back and check his racing record. And, I'm a Union Rags fan.
Charles More than 1 year ago
I appeal: to the connection of IHA give him time off and then come back and shut all the negative wagging lips who dont no a great horse when they see (ONE) the only other horse in the years pass that bareddown to get to the wire first with all of his determination was the great APindy and thats saying a lot... Ap was so determined thta out of the gate he had his head down and relentlessly trying to get their 1ST can it get any better.
Robert More than 1 year ago
Charles, I agree that this was a gritty horse who enjoyed competing and ultimately winning... i'm a huge fan of the horse. Imagine the horse as a 4 year old. Again let him heal up, and come back next year.
Sam More than 1 year ago
You nailed it Charlie. No one looked better running than AP
Robert More than 1 year ago
This sports needs a stipulation, that in order for a horse be eligble to be a sire, they need to start so many races. How bout 15 starts minimum. This does two things; it keeps the higher profile horses racing, where they will be known to the public, and secondly increases the likelhood of studs being sturdeir horses overall, and in turn creating a sturdier breed overall. If IHA need to race a certain amount of starts, then IHA would be looking at coming back for the Breeders or next year. Imagine this horse at four, what a draw that would be!!. The horse that was all set to win the Triple Crown now he's bigger and stronger at four, what a draw that would be to the general public. Instead, he will never race again. Like what is that!!. It was a tendon issue that would heal in 6 months, naaaahhh will just retire him instead. A huge joke!! he's worth too much at stud to race him again it's quite simple, but retire him under the pretext that it's not fair to the horse. Not fair to the horse!! the horse loves to run. Then to top it all off they have a retirement ceremony, keeping in mind the previous day he was 4:5 to win the Belmont. So are these connections supposed to be heros? I mean Reddam had said that he is in a position not to need the money....etc, yet he proves himself an absolute hypocrtie in retiring the horse immediately after some swelling. If they were really interested in racing him, they would have taken him back to cali and looked at the sitaution in 2-3 weeks. Not ooops he got swelling, ok then he's retired lets have a retirement ceremony....I mean did this really happen, it's like an episode of WWF. I mean really incredible what's happening in this sport, with these early retirements. Once and for all put some stipulations on at what point they can become studs, whether it be so many starts or after a certain age or whatever, but something needs to be done.
Capt. Ron More than 1 year ago
I could not agree more, Robert. All of your reasons for establishing such a rule make a boatload of sense to me. They're breeding fragile speedballs now because they don't know for sure just how sturdy a horse really is when they only race a horse 6-8 times before the marquis named horses get retired. And the comment about 'He's happy to be going off to a new career.'. Granted, I would not mind such a 'career', but as you said, 'Horses love to run', especially classy horses like IHA. I remember what Secretariat did for interest in horse racing way back when. Seeing the star performers race into their four year old year would be a great aid to getting more people out to the track which is good for everybody who still loves this great sport. Capt. Ron
Robert More than 1 year ago
''Fragile Speedball"- well put The whole thing is really disappointing, and the sad part is that it's commonplace with these retirements, as you said Ron. . But this one was the worst I can remember because of the circumstances involved ( potential Triple CR), swelling on Friday, retirement on Friday, and a retirement ceremony on Saturday. Wow. So this was supposed to be a celebration, the horse raced 7 times, the general public wouldn't have heard of him until 5 weeks ago, then when people recognize him and would actually follow the horse, they retire him because of an injury that would be healed in 6 months. Again Wow
Rob Fiffer More than 1 year ago
Why did they make the decision to retire him so fast? Stud Prices? He's only three years old with a tired tendon. Give him as long as he needs. He'll probably be even stronger at 4, 5, 6. Obviously if he doesn't recover then retire him. I don't see why you had to end a wonderful three year olds career after some swelling and the signs of tendinitis. I'm not saying the welfare of horses are not important.
Anonymous More than 1 year ago
theres nothing wrong with this horse he was prancing around on belmont day like he wanted to get out there and beat that field,maybe one day we will all find out why this horse was scratched.as for the retirement its at best strange a minor injury that requires a few months off and they immediatly announce his retirement, no, were going home to evaluate nothing just from hes doing great to hes retired in a couple of hours?.
Herb Scholes More than 1 year ago
I know lets make that match race at Ferndale and Gary Stevens can ride IHA & Chris McCarron on UR WOW !
Arnie More than 1 year ago
Great idea! But I'd even settle for an early fall showdown in the Donn or the Big Cap between IHA, UR, and Bode.
JoyJackson21 More than 1 year ago
Not going to happen.
ihatebrangelina More than 1 year ago
Something smells in the town of new yawk! Dullahan was soooo far behind, that he traded places with Union Rags? Remember the Derby? Union Rags raced the identical race that Dully had last Saturday! Hmmmmm- I can't help but smell a "live one"!!
Ray Sousa More than 1 year ago
Dullahan had a bunch of flaws for this race,he really is not bred to go this long his half brother was by Birdstone not Even the score,he has the stride of a turf horse and belmonts deep sandy track was always going to be tough for him going this long,he had a very fast workout to close to the race like he was training for a mile not a mile and a half.add to that that he was twitching at the gate and looked lit up from the paddock to the gate,now what he needs is a vacation of a month and then some turf racing.
Stacey More than 1 year ago
the mans a crook. `nuff said!
Dawood K More than 1 year ago
O K.
Dawood K More than 1 year ago
Is it true that Mario Guiterrez is on his way out to Woodbine ? Reddam will disolve his stock of thoroughbreds soon ? And Doug O'Neil won't be training for quite some time to come ? It seems there were huge future bets cashed on IHA for the Derby and Preakness. But the future bets for the Belmont were voided on IHA. For some reason this years Belmont had more controversy's than all the Triple Crown Races combined.
JoyJackson21 More than 1 year ago
Once again, partial truths reign supreme and deliberately misinterpretted. Mario Gutierrez will be splitting his time between Woodbine and the Los Angeles area racetracks (Santa Anita and Hollywood). He gave an interview to that effect and it was published in DRF. Please go and read it. Doug O'Neill has a stable full of horses from other owners other than the Reddams. That stable of horses is the reason why he did not follow IHA out to Belmont the first two weeks of training for the Belmont. The other owners were protesting that their horses needed attention too, and Doug accommodated them in their requests. That too was from interviews given in DRF, television interviews out west and from video interviews. They are easy to find if you would like to read/view them. Mr. Reddam also has a stable full of other horses that he owns. I'll Have Another is his preimminent star, of course, and he's going to take good care with him, just as he has done so far. So Mr. Reddam has plenty of horses that he owns to take care of, as well as his corporate empire. The man is busy. He has spoken of his stable of horses before in print. You can easily find those articles, if you wish.
neigh sayer More than 1 year ago
Mr. Zakk attack. I see you did a little research but you need to do more research before spewing more misinformation. His suspension is for a higher than normal co2 level in a horse that finished eighth two years ago. No wrong doing was found. It is not for milkshaking a horse. So to you he is a cheater, and what was gained from an eighth place finish to call him a cheater. A milkshake is illegal. Baking soda is not illegal, neither is electrolytes or sugar. But put the three together and you have a milkshake. Juicing a horse with illegal performance enhancing drugs needs to be stopped. He was not ever accused of that. His positives are for higher than normal levels of legal therapeutic meds which all trainers use. There are records of the boards decisions, there are not records for positives that trainers fight for years and get reversed for technicalities for illegal meds. And you would be shocked to find out the well known trainers who do that, some may be your "clean" favorites. But hey why not keep pounding on this guy for a milkshake. Insane.
JoyJackson21 More than 1 year ago
Concise and true.
Thomas Cook More than 1 year ago
go look at his other violatons for positives of anti-inflamatory drugs and pain killers... here we go again.... nice colt...crooked trainer.
Sean Ali More than 1 year ago
If all trainers use these these meds, why is he the only one racking up violations? How is every other trainer getting along without these 'meds' except O'Neil who seems to be hooked on them? You guys are screaming for reform and uniformity in testing standards for the entire industry, yet you continue to defend and support a man who had shown no willingness to conform to the standards that ARE in place.
mrm More than 1 year ago
No one seems to have the answer to that question. Poor Doug, they're all picking on him.