Robert LaPenta’s The Cliff’s Edge, who suffered a fracture of the right front fetlock during the running of the Oct. 2 Jockey Club Gold Cup (gr. I) at Belmont, underwent successful surgery the morning of Oct. 4 at the New Jersey Equine Clinic.

Veterinarian Patricia Hogan, VMD, Dipl. ACVS, who performed the surgery, said the son of Gulch suffered a displaced condylar fracture of the right front leg, which required three screws.

“He has an excellent prognosis for breeding,” Hogan said. “He’s very lucky he didn’t do any more damage. Nick (Zito) asked me to keep him here for two weeks. I didn’t need to medically, but he just wanted him to stay until the stitches come out. We have a farm here, so he’ll stay with us, then ship to Vinery in Lexington, Ky.

“He’s a gorgeous horse, and he weighed 1,136 pounds, which I thought was pretty good considering the campaign he’s had. The joint inside was in good shape and he had really nice cartilage. The fracture was the only abnormality