Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom suffered a "tiny crack" in his left hind leg when he was bumped, clipped heels and stumbled at the start of last Saturday's Belmont Stakes, radiographs revealed Thursday.
The injury is not major, and the Team Valor colt is expected to return to training later this summer.
The diagnosis was done by Dr. Dean Richardson at the New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania and Dr. Larry Bramlage of the Rood & Riddle veterinary clinic in Lexington, Ky.
"It's not a major thing," Bramlage said. "Right now it is a tiny crack, and technically you could call it a fracture. But I would characterize it as more of a fissure because of how small it is.
"The good news is that this should not cost him the entire season. In two weeks it should settle down, and he should be sound again."
