Quality Road Has Only Minor Cuts

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Photo: Mathea Kelley

Quality Road was not cooperative during the load of the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Quality Road  , who was scratched out of the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) after fighting to load into the gate, has only minor, superficial cuts.

"Quality Road had a history of being difficult in the starting gate, and became a bit of a battle of wills as you saw out there," said Dr. C. Wayne McIlwraith, the "on-call" veterinarian for the Breeders' Cup World Championships. "So, unfortunately, when he kicked in the starting gates, he lacerated.He received a couple of lacerations to his limbs. So there was no choice but to scratch him."

The son of Elusive Quality fought with ground crews while loading for the Classic. The colt did load after the crew put a blindfold over his eyes, but then began bucking and fighting. He then broke through the front barrier of the gate.

“The horse is okay. He’s got some scrapes and scratches," said trainer Todd Pletcher. "We’re very disappointed but it’s just one of those things. We’ll have to regroup and try again. It was bad timing. We got the worse luck at the worst time on the biggest day.”

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