American sprinter Caller One is to be retired after fracturing a bone in his right foreleg during a piece of work at Belmont Park. The five-year-old Phone Trick gelding was preparing for a tilt at Saturday's 400,000 Smile Sprint Handicap at Calder Race Course when he suffered the injury to a sesamoid.
Trainer James Chapman Sr. became worried after he looked uncomfortable while working and a later X-ray revealed the damage. Caller One had only just returned to America after a short stay in Britain. He was due to run in the Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot but was forced to miss the race after a slight setback. A run in today's Group One Darley July Cup at Newmarket was also considered but connections decided to head back to America.
The sprinter, who won the Dubai Golden Shaheen earlier this season, notched up 10 wins from 20 starts, earning 3,184,500 in win and place prize money. Although Caller One could recover well enough from the injury to race, vets have advised that he could not compete at the top level and Chapman has elected to retire him to the family farm in Florida instead.
'He'll have a good place here for the rest of his life,' Chapman told the Thoroughbred Times. 'I don't even know how to word what he has meant. He's just been like part of the family.'
