After enduring the loss of his mother as a foal, Beauregard has yet another challenge to face after sustaining a basal sesamoid fracture while training earlier this month at Delta Downs Racetrack.
McCROSKEY: Beauregard, An Orphan Foal Who Beat the Odds
The 4-year-old son of Goldencents underwent surgery Dec. 19 at the Louisiana State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital under the care of Dr. Chuck McCauley and is expected to make a full recovery after lengthy stall rest, according to David Crisp, who owns the homebred gelding and races him under his Southern Legacy Thoroughbreds stable.
The David Gomez trainee, a five-time winner and $111,806 earner, was preparing for a start in the Dec. 10 Louisiana Champions Day Classic Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots before he was sidelined.
"Obviously, it was a kick in the gut for us but really was for Beauregard too," Crisp said. "After his win down there in New Orleans, the trainer said he walked around the barn, going to the track and back, like he was the big man on campus."
Last out in mid-November at Fair Grounds, 'Beau' won an allowance optional claiming event after a gutsy run down the sloppy main track.
"He was probably the best he's ever been. Thursday before running in the Champions Day Classic, which is the biggest (state-bred) race in Louisiana, he was out for a light, routine gallop, and then he was going to load up and go to New Orleans," Crisp said. "Nothing unusual; it wasn't a real bad step from what I've been told.
"When he came off the track, he seemed a little off, and out of precaution we immediately got X-rays. He had a basal sesamoid fracture which is not what you want to hear or receive."
Crisp said McCauley was "very encouraged by the surgery even though it was more difficult and detailed than he thought from looking at the X-rays. We thought it was a clean fracture off of the bottom of the sesamoid.
"When he got into it, it was a comminuted fracture, so there were two pieces. He had to clean both of those up as well as the joint space."
Beauregard remains stabled at Delta Downs, where he will be kept on stall rest for several weeks and then will be hand-walked. He will finish out the remainder of his recovery at Crisp's Southern Legacy Thoroughbreds in Texarkana, Texas.
"(Dr. McCauley) is optimistic. So, if he's optimistic, I'm going to be optimistic. He told me he didn't think there would be any question that 'Beau' would be able to go into a second career if we didn't want to race him but that he believes with six-eight months he would come back as a racehorse."
Crisp added that Beauregard is already walking out sound and does not appear to be bothered much by his injury. He says that despite the outcome of the gelding's recovery, he will always have a soft place to land.
"We're not going to worry about what the ultimate situation is because 'Beau' has a home here for the rest of his life; he doesn't have to worry about any of that," Crisp said. "Beau is so special to us that whatever and wherever it takes, we'll make sure he has the best outcome."
