The Breaks

Max Hirsch is a veteran horse trainer not given to dreaming. When he sized up the King Ranch two-year-old crop last year, he earmarked three colts--Air Lift, Beau Max and Middleground--for future greatness. Air Lift, the most promising, broke an ankle in his first race and had to be destroyed. Beau Max proved unsound, never trained or raced to expectation. Middleground, despite a suspicious ankle, won four of his five races and topped the Experimental Handicap ratings.

This season, as a three-year-old, the son of Bold Venture went on to win the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont, two-thirds of the triple crown, and run his total earnings to $237,725. Last week, his luck ran out. During a workout he suddenly broke stride, pulled up with his right foreleg hanging limp. X rays showed breaks in both sesamoid bones on his ankle.

It was a question whether the colt could even be saved for stud duty. Middle-ground soon indicated his intention: he learned to lie down and get up without using the injured leg (now in a cast). Said Trainer Hirsch: "He's so sensible, I'm pretty sure he'll make it."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.