No Triple Crown! I'll Have Another Won't Have Another

BELMONT, N.Y., June 8 (UPI) —

I’ll Have Another Friday was scratched from the Belmont Stakes, ending the horse’s bid to win the Triple Crown, trainer Doug O’Neill said.

The Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner was withdrawn from Saturday’s Belmont Stakes with what his connections called tendon issues.

“He’s got tendonitis in his left front tendon,” O’Neill told Daily Racing Form. “He’s not 100 percent, and I ain’t taking any chances.”

O’Neill said the condition will end I’ll Have Another’s racing year and he and owner Paul Reddam will consider whether to retire the colt.

The withdrawal extends a Triple Crown drought that runs back to 1979, when Affirmed last won all three races. I’ll Have Another was listed as the morning-line favorite to win the Belmont and the Triple Crown.

An early afternoon news conference was called to explain why the Belmont favorite was pulled from the race.