Duramente, winner of last season’s Japanese Derby and Satsuki Sho titles, has retired due to injury and will be put out to stud, the Japan Racing Association (JRA) said on Wednesday.
The four-year-old colt lost his balance and was injured after finishing second at the Takarazuka Kinen on Sunday. Tests later revealed ligament damage, tendon inflammation and internal bleeding in his front left leg.
Trainer Noriyuki Hori and Duramente’s owners decided at a meeting Wednesday to retire the horse.
“I felt he (Duramente) still had a way to go before becoming the perfect racehorse so it really is a great shame that his career has been cut short by an accident like this,” Hori said in a statement.
Duramente was rested after tests in June last year revealed chip fractures in both of his front legs.
He won his comeback race at the Grade 2 Nakayama Kinen in February this year and placed second in the Dubai Sheema Classic in March.
Hopes had been high for a successful showing by Duramente at the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in France in October.
Duramente retires with a record of five wins in nine races and JRA career earnings of over ¥500 million.
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