Curlin Won, George Washing Euthanized on the Track

Curlin put the finishing touches on a championship season with a stirring stretch run and splashed his way to victory in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Monmouth Park on Saturday.

The race was marred in the final yards when European star George Washington broke down and was euthanized on the track.

A son of Danehill, George Washington was pulled up around the sixteenth pole by jockey Mick Kinane. It was discovered after the race that he had suffered a fracture of the cannon bone in the right front fetlock joint. Trainer Aidan O’Brien immediately told attending veterinarians to euthanize the bay colt.

“He had an open fracture of the condyle,” said on-call veterinarian Dr. C. Wayne McIlwraith. "The fetlock was dislocated with both sesamoids fractured as well. So it was a hopeless injury as far as repair, and he has been euthanized.”

George Washington, a 4-year-old, was bred by Lael Stables, who also bred and raced the late 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro. On the day Barbaro won the Kentucky Derby, George Washington won one of Europe's biggest races, the G-1 2000 Guineas.

George Washington wasn't even supposed to race anymore. He was retired at the end of last year with plans to go to stud, but was found to be infertile and put back into training.

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