Rydilluc sustains career-threatening soft-tissue injury

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Rydilluc, a multiple stakes-winning turf horse, sustained a soft-tissue injury when finishing fifth in the Canadian Turf Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 22 and will miss at least the remainder of the year, according to trainer Gary Contessa.

Contessa said it hasn’t been determined whether Rydilluc will attempt to come back next year or be sold as a stallion prospect. He did say the earliest Rydilluc could return to training would be at the beginning of 2015.

As a 3-year-old last year, Rydilluc won the Grade 3 Palm Beach Stakes at Gulfstream and the inaugural running of the Penn Mile at Penn National. He went off form in the summer, finishing eighth in the Grade 2 Virginia Derby and 11th in the Grade 1 Secretariat. The Canadian Turf, in which Rydilluc was favored, was his first race since August.

“I was so disappointed when he lost that race. It turns out he was injured in the race,” Contessa said. “I always loved that horse. Hopefully, he does come back, and if not, hopefully I get to breed a mare to him.”

Rydilluc, a son of Medaglia d’Oro, is owned by Team Stallion Racing, Leonard Green, Harold Lerner, and Sean Shay.

A $150,000 purchase as a 2-year-old at the Fasig-Tipton sale in Timonium, Md., in 2012, Rydilluc has won 4 of 9 starts and earned $486,490.