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I'll Have Another Won't Win Another, as Injury Ends Triple Crown Bid, Career

I'll Have Another is being retired from racing with a swollen tendon. The surprising announcement Friday from trainer Doug O'Neill comes the day before the colt was set to race at Belmont for the final leg of racing's Triple Crown.

"It's been an incredible ride, an incredible run," said O'Neill. "It's a bummer. It's not tragic, but it's a huge disappointment."

I'll Have Another was the 4-5 favorite to win the Belmont. Had he done so, he would have become just the 12th Triple Crown winner, and the first since Affirmed in 1978.

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I'll Have Another, which was set to run for racing glory in Saturday's Belmont Stakes, will not be racing for the Triple Crown.

And the winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness may never race again, his trainer says.

On The Dan Patrick Show Friday morning, trainer Doug O'Neill broke the news that the horse "is officially out of the Belmont." The show's website adds that:

"O'Neill said [I'll Have Another] looks fine. He said he will walk the horse in front of the media at his 1 p.m. ET press conference to show everyone that the horse is doing well. But he has the beginning of the injury and they can't run him.

"Dan asked O'Neill if I'll Have Another has raced his last horse. 'If I had to wager ... I would say yes,' O'Neill said."

Kevin is the News Director at WKU Public Radio. He has been with the station since 1999, and was previously the Assistant News Director, and also served as local host of Morning Edition.