One day I was tearing off wallpaper in my living room.  The room was a mess with furniture moved around so I could get the dratted paper off the wall.  I had the tv on to channel 405 [dish] to catch races while working.  Gary Seibel and Frank Lyons came on to make the announcement that Lost In The Fog, a truly great horse, had inoperable cancer.  I just sat down and with both hands covering my mouth, and I wept as I have only done very few times in my life.  Rock on Lost...you won the world.

[edit] Complications

In August of 2006, believing the horse to be suffering from a mild bout of colic, Lost in the Fog's handlers took him to the California-Davis veterinary school. Performing a biopsy on the horse, the doctors discovered what they believed to be a cancerous mass on his spleen - a lymphoma "about the size of a cantalope." The doctors thought that surgery was likely, a rare operation but possibly one that could have given Lost in the Fog a full life.

Gilchrist, his trainer, had thought that his horse's recent poor performances—winning only one of three starts this year—might have been due to quarter cracks. "It turns out he's been running with this thing inside him this year," he said. "It shows you what kind of warrior this horse is." He also said that owner Harry Aleo was extremely concerned about his star. "We will do anything we can for the horse. It's almost a Barbaro-type situation."

[edit] Cancer diagnosis

On August 18, however, the situation went from bad to grave, to terminal. According to the report given by The Blood-Horse, "Two additional tumors were discovered. The first, the size of an egg, was located in the membrane that suspends the spleen. The second, (...) as large as the growth found originally on the spleen, is beneath (the horse's) spine along his back, very intimately against the body wall. It could not be removed surgically." (Source: The Blood-Horse)

Lost in the Fog was vanned back to his stall at Golden Gate Fields, where he was pampered for his remaining days.

"We'll keep him in the stall for a week or 10 days," the trainer said. "This would be the best thing to do, get him back with his groom. I just couldn't leave him up there (at Davis) to be euthanized and thrown in the bone yard."

Given the circumstances, Gilchrist said it would not be proper to extend Lost in the Fog's life beyond the horse's comfort level or subject him to chemotherapy or extensive surgery.

"We're fine with a week, 10 days, maybe two weeks," he said. "But you get beyond that, his quality of life wouldn't be good. This way we'll let the people who have always been around him take care of him. We'll bring him home and make him as happy as we can for a while." (Source: The Blood-Horse)

[edit] Battle over

On September 17, 2006, the Fog was quietly euthanized. He'd been grazing, as he'd done twice each day since the discovery of his cancer, when Gilcrist saw he was in obvious distress. True to his word, the trainer did not allow him to suffer. He said that Lost in the Fog was happy and peaceful until the end.

On September 30, 2006, Golden Gate Fields held a celebration of his life.

Lost in the Fog's remains were cremated. There had been discussion of them going to Greg and Karen Dodd's Southern Chase Farm in Williston, Florida where he was raised. However, Per Harry Aleo arrangements have been made for the colt's ashes to be buried at Golden Gate Fields, where he was stabled.

A post-mortem necropsy on Lost in the Fog revealed that the cancer was much more widespread than previously thought. In an excerpt from an article published on 10/18/2006 in the Blood-Horse: "Located directly below his spine, one inoperable lymphoma ran almost the length of the colt's back. Doctors at University of California at Davis, where the necropsy also was performed, originally thought that tumor to be about one foot long.

"It went all the way from his pelvis to invade and erode his diaphragm and chest cavity," said Dr. David Wilson, director of UCD's large animal clinic, who was part of a large team of veterinarians and specialists who worked with the horse. "It also involved his arteries, kidneys and intestinal organs. It actually invaded one kidney and compressed both.

"It came right up against his aorta," Wilson added. "He had experienced swelling in his hind legs and that was no doubt caused by the tumors pressing on blood vessels."

In earlier tests, the large tumor had been partially hidden from view by other organs. In addition to the gigantic growth, Lost in the Fog also carried a tumor the size of a football in his spleen.

...

Aleo remains astounded that Lost in the Fog could perform at such a high level before his cancer was diagnosed. Doctors told the owner that the tumors could have been growing for up to a year. Yet just weeks before his death, Lost in the Fog continued to record bullet workouts at Golden Gate."

[edit] Lost in the Fog Stakes