Broken leg bone forces Caller One to call it quits

MIAMI - Caller One, one of the premier sprinters in the world, fractured a sesamoid in his right front leg during a workout at Belmont on Tuesday and will likely be retired.

was scheduled to be the 123-pound highweight for Saturday's $400,000 Smile Sprint Handicap at Calder.

"He was working a half-mile for the race on Saturday," said James Chapman Sr., whose son James Jr. trains Caller One. "The exercise rider said coming through the lane he felt him take a misstep when he went to change leads, although he completed the work and seemed to walk back to the barn okay."

Caller One was officially credited with a half-mile work of 49.26 seconds by the Belmont Park clockers.

"At first, we thought maybe he had a foot problem but decided to take an X-ray before pulling the shoe," said Chapman. "That's when we discovered he had broken a piece off the bottom of his sesamoid."

Chapman said Caller One will be flown back to his farm near Ocala, Fla. this week, where he will get a second opinion on the X-rays. In light of the nature of the injury, he said, it is unlikely Caller One would race again.

"The percentages are just so far against you trying to bring a horse back from this type of injury," said Chapman. "Even if everything went well, you'd compromise his ability, and he's been too good to us to cheapen him up like that."

Caller One has won 10 of 20 starts, including the last two runnings of the Dubai Golden Shaheen Stakes. He finished third, beaten less than a length by Squirtle Squirt, after contesting all the pace in last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint. He has earned $3,184,500 for owners Carolyn Chapman and Theresa McArthur.

"We've been really been blessed to have had a horse like Caller One," Chapman said. "The only good thing I can say about all this is that, thank God, the injury occurred during a workout when he was going easy and up against the bit and not during the race Saturday, when the consequences could have been a lot worse."