Zenyatta's half sister Eblouissante, scratched from an allowance race Dec. 15 at Betfair Hollywood Park after banging herself in the receiving barn, apparently avoided serious injury.
The 3-year-old filly appeared fine the morning after the incident, according to trainer John Shirreffs.
"She's good this morning," said a relieved Shirreffs. "It was a contusion or abrasion. It took some hair off and it's bruised. We're treating it topically now. We iced it about four or five times (Saturday). She's walking good on it so we're going to take her out and train her and see how she handles it."
Shirreffs explained how the accident happened.
"The horses go to the receiving barn and the man says put your horses in the stalls,'' he said. "They come out of the stalls in post position order, and sometimes they get a little anxious because they see the horse leaving in front of them. Sometimes they want to come out of the door a little more on the muscle than they should.
"She didn't jump through the door or anything, she just wiggled through the side and leaned a thousand pounds into her hip on the edge of the door. She bruised it pretty good."
"I called the vet over because when she came out of the door, she didn't want to put her foot down. She bruised it, so it was stinging her a little bit. We walked her a couple of steps and she wasn't walking properly. That's when I asked the vet to come over and take a look at her and said to scratch her."
Eblouissante
Benoit Photo