Gulfstream: Force Freeze bows tendon during prep for Churchill Downs Handicap

Force Freeze, runner-up in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Sprint and among the leading members of the sprint division again this season, will be sidelined indefinitely after sustaining a bowed tendon during a routine workout on Saturday morning at Gulfstream Park.

Force Freeze breezed five furlongs in 1:00.80, but was pulled up abruptly shortly after completing the work.

“He took a bad step on his right front at the eighth pole, switched to his left lead, and finished the work but came back to the barn lame,” said trainer Peter Walder. “I’m just sick over this. You wait your whole life to have a horse like Force Freeze and something like this happens.”

Force Freeze, a 7-year-old gelded son of Forest Camp, was transferred to Walder’s barn by owner Saeed Naser Al Romalthi during the summer of 2011. In his first start for Walder, he defeated Grade 1 winner Jersey Town in Monmouth Park’s Teddy, then finished a close second in the Grade 1 Vosburgh as a final prep for the BC Sprint.

Force Freeze opened his 2012 campaign with an easy 3 3/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Sprint on Feb. 18 and was preparing for his next start in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Handicap on Kentucky Derby Day.