I’ll Have Another escapes calamity at Belmont Park

Associated Press

NEW YORK

The Triple Crown bid of I’ll Have Another almost ended Thursday when a loose horse came within inches of slamming into the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner during training at Belmont Park.

A collision was avoided, but not before the speeding horse grazed the boot of I’ll Have Another’s exercise rider Jonny Garcia.

“I’ve seen accidents like that happen, and they are ugly,” trainer Doug O’Neill said.

After I’ll Have Another began walking on the track, a horse had dumped its rider and came “screaming up the outside rail” in the same direction along the clubhouse turn, O’Neill said.

I’ll Have Another was walking a few feet from the rail, with stable pony, Lava Man, on the inside. O’Neill said the horse, later identified as the 3-year-old maiden filly Isleta, ran between the rail and I’ll Have Another.

“Normally they walk the outside rail, but the racing gods must have been looking out for him because he was about 2 feet off the rail this morning,” O’Neill said.

“It could have been terrible,” said Dennis O’Neill, Doug’s brother who bought I’ll Have Another for $35,000 for owner Paul Reddam.

I’ll Have Another was never touched, and then proceeded on with his morning mile gallop before returning to his soon to be former stable a few yards from the main track.