Shared Belief might miss rest of 2015

Shared Belief sustained a non-displaced fracture on the point of his right hip, his connections said Monday, and while the injury is not career-threatening, it’s uncertain whether he can make it back to the races this year.

“We’d love to have him back at year’s end, but we’ll give him as much time as he needs,” said Alex Solis II, the bloodstock agent who found Shared Belief after his maiden win and remained as part owner of the gelding. “If he’s around at the end of the year, great, if not, he’s a gelding, and we’ll have him next year. He’s going to determine it all for us. We’ll let the horse do the talking.”

Part owner Jim Rome tweeted the news about Shared Belief’s injury on Monday evening. Solis said surgery will not be required and that the gelding will get two months of stall rest before the injured area is X-rayed again.

Shared Belief, who was back at Charles Town on Monday, was to fly to the West Coast on Tuesday and will do his rehabilitation at the Pegasus Training and Equine Rehabilitation Center in Washington state, Solis said.

Shared Belief was injured in the early stages of Saturday’s $1.5 million Charles Town Classic. He bobbled coming out of the gate, and jockey Mike Smith pulled him up about three furlongs into the race.

“Mike said on the second turn he heard a pop, that’s why he grabbed him right away, and are we glad he did,” Solis said.

Shared Belief was vanned off the track. On Sunday morning, Shared Belief appeared to walk and jog sound, according to Jerry Hollendorfer, who sent the horse to a clinic in Virginia for a nuclear scan that revealed the injury.

“We’ll re-X-ray around two months and see what it looks like,” Solis said. “The prognosis should be excellent; that’s the hope. It’s just a bummer for the horse.”

Entering the Charles Town Classic, Shared Belief, the 2-year-old male champion of 2013, had won 10 of 11 starts, including a dominant victory over 2014 Horse of the Year California Chrome in the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes in February and a win in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in March.