Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands winner Animal Kingdom has suffered an injury to his left hind leg, Team Valor International president Barry Irwin confirmed June 16.

Dean Richardson, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, head of surgery at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, examined a nuclear scan June 15 that indicated something was amiss with the colt’s left hock. On June 16 both Richardson and Larry Bramlage, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, of Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, in Lexington, examined radiographs of the hock and discovered a small fissure on the tip of the cannon bone where it joins the lower part of the hock.

Irwin said he hopes Animal Kingdom can return to training in a few weeks, but a summer campaign is almost certainly out of the question. He was supposed to make his next start in the July 31 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.

"I would think the summer races are going to be out," Irwin said. "We’ll look forward to a fall campaign