Afleet Alex injured; will miss Haskell

By: SPORTS NETWORK

Oceanport, NJ (Sports Network) - Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Afleet Alex

 has suffered a hairline fracture and will not run in next week's Haskell Invitational.

 The injury will apparently force the three-year-old to miss four to six weeks of training.

Afleet Alex had been working out at Belmont Park for the August 7 Haskell at

Monmouth Park. His owners, Cash is King Stable, also planned to run the colt

in the Travers at Saratoga in late August and finish the year at the Breeders' Cup Classic.

John Hines of the publicity office at Monmouth Park told The Sports Network that

Afleet Alex had surgery on Wednesday for a hairline fracture of the cannonbone.

The surgery took place at the New Jersey Equine Clinic in Clarksburg.

Afleet Alex is trained by Tim Ritchey and has been ridden by Jeremy Rose. As a

two-year-old he won four of six starts for more than $680,000. This year Afleet Alex

 has earned better than $2 million while winning four of six races. Overall he has

 earned more than $2.7 million in his career.

In 2005 Afleet Alex won the Arkansas Derby, Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes.

 He was the 9-2 second choice in the Kentucky Derby and finished third one-length

behind the winner, Giacomo.