[Kasept]

Gary Stevens: Royal Mo has fractured sesamoid, headed to New Bolton
Jay Privman

Royal Mo fractured a sesamoid bone in his right front ankle when working at Pimlico Race Course this morning in preparation for the Preakness Stakes next Saturday and is currently en route to New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania, according to Gary Stevens, the Hall of Fame jockey who was aboard Royal Mo for the workout.

According to Stevens, the fracture is non-displaced but will be career-ending.

"He won't run again, but he'll make a good daddy," Stevens, reached by telephone, said of the son of Uncle Mo.

Stevens was working Royal Mo five furlongs in company when the incident happened near the quarter pole.

"Luckily I had a stranglehold on him. He was just rattling off 12s. He was going to go in a minute," Stevens said. "I was thinking about how much I was going to let him gallop out. And then I heard a loud pop. I was hoping he had just overreached, but that wasn't it.

"He was relishing the track. The track had a good bottom. The track had nothing to do with it. He was on cruise control."

Stevens said Royal Mo had ankle wraps on his ankles and that those bandages, affixed by the groom, helped prevent further damage.

New Bolton is where Barbaro was treated for a hind leg fracture after he broke down in the 2006 Preakness. Stevens said trainer John Shirreffs was on the van taking Royal Mo to New Bolton.