Rags to Riches Out for Year With a Leg Injury

Rags to Riches, who in June became only the third filly to capture the Belmont Stakes, sustained a hairline fracture to her right front leg Saturday in finishing second in the Grade I Gazelle Stakes at Belmont Park.

Rags to Riches’s trainer, Todd Pletcher, said that the injury, which is in the pastern, was not career-ending and that the filly was expected to make a full recovery but would not race again until 2008.

On Saturday, in her first race since becoming the first filly in 102 years to win the Belmont Stakes, Rags to Riches finished a half-length behind Lear’s Princess in the mile-and-an-eighth Gazelle.

“It appears as though she sustained the injury during the stretch run,” Pletcher said.

He said that “she cooled out fine following the race” but “appeared to be slightly off this morning.” X-rays discovered the hairline fracture.

Rags to Riches will ship to Ashford Stud in Kentucky for six weeks of stall rest, Pletcher said, before being re-examined to determine when, and perhaps whether, she may return to the racetrack.

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