Calder: Mambo Meister injured, euthanized

The Grade 3 winner Mambo Meister had to be euthanized shortly after suffering severe injuries during a routine workout Monday morning at Calder.

Mambo Meister, a 7-year-old gelded son of King Cugat, won 11 of 42 starts during his career. Nine of those victories came in stakes races, most over his home course at Calder, including both the Primal and Mecke stakes in 2011.

Two of Mambo Meister’s most important wins came within a six-week span during the spring of 2010 – the Grade 3 Miami Mile and Grade 3 Memorial Day Handicap. He also captured Calder’s Grade 3 Spend a Buck the previous year. Among his best races was his fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita in 2009, when he was beaten only two lengths after an unlucky trip.

He was owned by Quantum Racing Team and trained by Phil Gleaves.

“I was watching from the grandstand while he was just having an easy maintenance breeze this morning when I heard a loud pop about 10 jumps before the wire,” said Gleaves on Monday. “My rider pulled him up immediately, he was vanned right off and taken back to the barn, where we discovered he had fractured his right hind cannon bone and also shattered both his sesamoid and pastern. At that point I had no choice but to make the call to put him down.”

Gleaves said the incident may have been the lowest point of his training career.

“I’ve had horses break down before and it’s always a tough thing to go through, but never one that meant as much to me as Mambo Meister,” said Gleaves. “We had such a connection to him at the barn. He was such a wonderful horse to be around, a multiple graded stakes winner who had been a staple in this barn for so many years. He took us all a lot of places and made a lot of people very happy.”