Social Inclusion sidelined with tendon injury

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Social Inclusion, who finished third in both the Wood Memorial and Preakness earlier this year, will be sidelined indefinitely due to a tendon injury, trainer Chad Brown reported Monday.

Social Inclusion was transferred from his former trainer, Manny Azpurua, to Brown by owner Ron Sanchez within days of his seventh-place finish in the Grade 1 Haskell at Monmouth Park on July 27. Brown subsequently sent Social Inclusion to Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Kentucky to be examined by Dr. Larry Bramlage, who diagnosed Social Inclusion’s injury.

“The horse has a tendon injury,” Brown said. “It’s not quite as bad as we thought, or as it could have been, but there is an injury there. The horse does have a chance to make a full recovery from it, but it’s going to take some time and patience. He’s on a farm in Kentucky, and we’ll just monitor his progress from month to month to see how he’s doing. There’s a chance this horse could actually go back under tack in 60 days, if everything goes okay. We just need to see how this heals up first.”

Social Inclusion first gained national attention when dominating Honor Code, one of the leading Kentucky Derby candidates at the time, while setting a track record in the process winning a 1 1/16-mile allowance race at Gulfstream Park in March. Following third-place finishes in the Wood Memorial and Preakness, Social Inclusion spent a whirlwind two weeks in New York where he was a potential candidate for the Belmont Stakes before his connections ultimately opted to turn him back to seven furlongs in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens. He finished third as the favorite, behind Bayern, in the Woody Stephens.