Champion Horse Lost in the Fog Has Cancer

Posted on Monday, August 21st, 2006

NEW YORK (AP) — Lost in the Fog, the 2005 Eclipse Award winner as sprinter of the year, has cancer in his spleen and abdomen and his trainer said Friday that the 4-year-old colt will have to be put down soon.

The horse underwent an exploratory procedure Friday that determined the cancer in his spleen had spread, said veterinarian, Don Smith, in a conference call with trainer Greg Gilchrist.

“Unfortunately, we found two other tumors in his abdomen,” Smith said. “There is one in his membrane and ligament, about the size of an egg. Unfortunately there is another along his back and its about the size of a football.”

They plan to bring the horse back to Golden Gate Fields so that Lost in the Fog can rest comfortably in his own stall.

Lost in the Fog won the first 10 races of his career beginning in November 2004, setting two track records while becoming Northern California’s most exciting horse in years. But he lost the Breeders’ Cup Sprint to Silver Train in the final furlong, coming in seventh.

After a six-month break, Lost in the Fog returned this year with a second-place finish in the Golden Gate Fields Sprint and a victory in the Grade 3 Aristides at Churchill Downs on June 3.

The growth was discovered during a sonogram Sunday at UC Davis after Gilchrist sent Lost in the Fog up from his home track for a checkup. The colt had seemed uncomfortable for a week, with changed eating habits, signs of colic and a spike in his temperature.

A small camera was inserted into Lost in the Fog’s abdomen on Friday to determine the extent of the growth.

“We had hoped we weren’t going to see anything inside there except for what was in the spleen,” Smith said. “But you could see the mass in front of you and it was very high right along the backbone. As soon as the scope when in there, you saw it and everyone knew what the implications were.”

Lost in the Fog has earned $978,099 with 11 wins and a second-place finish in 14 starts.

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"Champion Horse Lost in the Fog Has Cancer" was posted on Monday, August 21st, 2006 at 12:28 pm and is filed under Horse Racing Industry, Horses, Owners & Breeders, Trainers, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.