By Joe Bianca
Al Shaqab Racing and Gerard Augustin Norman's Grade I/Group 1 winner Ectot (Hurricane Run {Ire}) has been injured and will miss several months of action, U.S. Racing Manager for Al Shaqab Bradley Weisbord said Monday. The injury, described as lameness in the left front, occurred while Ectot was preparing to make his 2017 debut in the Feb. 11 GI Gulfstream Park Turf H.
“He is going to be ruled out of the race,” Weisbord confirmed. “He came up this week with a left front lameness that we are evaluating, but the plan right now is to ship him to Fair Hill Bruce Jackson's and get him back for a summer and fall campaign.”
The 5-year-old bay, trained by Todd Pletcher, captured France's G1 Criterium International as a juvenile and earned his first Stateside win with a five-length upset of heavily favored Flintshire (GB) (Dansili {GB}) in the GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational at Belmont last October. Ectot wrapped up his 4-year-old campaign with an eighth-place finish in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf Nov. 5 at Santa Anita.
“Unfortunately, he'll miss some time,” Weisbord said. “He was doing tremendous and it's very disappointing, but the Sheikh (Al Shaqab's Joaan Al Thani) would like to rehab him looking towards the second part of 2017. Hopefully he'll look to repeat in the Joe Hirsch Turf and target the Breeders' Cup.”
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