Fracture sidelines Point of Entry

By: SPORTS NETWORK

Elmont, NY (Sports Network) - Point of Entry, winner of Saturday's Manhattan Handicap at Belmont Park, will be out of action with a fractured leg bone. The 5-year-old will undergo surgery later this week at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky.

"I don't know what the down time is until (Dr. Larry Bramlage) looks at him," trainer Shug McGaughey said. "He said maybe two weeks (in his) stall, two weeks hand walk and them maybe start riding him under tack. But I'm not going to be too hopeful on that. Best-case scenario, maybe we can get a race into him in September. Best-case scenario, maybe the Breeders' Cup is not out of the question. The intention all along was to retire him at the end of the year. I don't know whether Mr. Stronach and Mr. Phipps (owners Phipps Stable and Frank Stronach) will want to roll the dice and see what happens. If (Bramlage) says it might be a long rehab time, we might have to pull the rug out from under him. I'm hoping, myself, that's not the case. The primary goal was the Breeders' Cup."

Point of Entry suffered a non-displaced condylar fracture of his left-hind cannon bone during his 1 1/2-length victory in the $500,000 turf race.

"We took the bandage off and his ankle was blown up," McGaughey noted.

Point of Entry has earned $2,314,490 in 17 lifetime starts and nine wins. He began 2013 by winning the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap over Animal Kingdom.

Last year he won five of seven starts, including the Man o'War, Sword Dancer and Turf Classic. Point of Entry finished second by a half-length in the Breeders' Cup Turf to Little Mike.