[Calzone Lord]

He was all but brought back from the dead from the sounds of it ...

According to Contessa, his trainer, Eightyfiveinafifty is suffering from a respiratory illness likely related to the serious bout of pneumonia he suffered last June.

“He’s had another respiratory setback but he is recovering and we’ve been told we’ll have him back here in the barn in two to three weeks,” said Contessa, who added the horse is in the care of Dr. Patty Hogan at her equine clinic in central New Jersey.

Eightyfiveinafifty was found to have entrapped his epiglottis in the Woody Stephens. He underwent laser surgery to repair that issue, but soon suffered from pneumonia. Contessa said at one point Eightyfiveinafifty weighed less than 700 pounds. His racing weight was between 1,100 and 1,200 pounds. Contessa credited Dr. Chris Byron of the Ruffian Equine Clinic across the street from Belmont Park with saving Eighyfiveinafifty’s life.

Eightyfiveinafifty had returned to the work tab in late fall and had twice breezed six furlongs and was near a race when he suffered his latest setback.

“Over the 25 to 30 years I’ve been training, more times than not when I’ve had horses that had a real serious bout of pneumonia – and I can count them on two hands – it’s left a scar of some sort,” said Contessa, who is running Preachintothedevil in Saturday’s Whirlaway. “It’s a very, very tough thing to overcome for a horse and I can’t say he’s overcome it. We don’t know where we’re going to be when he comes back.”