There is exciting news about 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom. On Thursday, he resumed galloping at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland.

Animal Kingdom was the winner of last year’s Eclipse Award as champion three-year-old male but missed 60 days of training to recover from the start of a stress fracture of the ilium, a part of the pelvis. This made him miss the opportunity to compete in the Emirates Airline Dubai World Cup. Luckily, the injury did not require surgery.

“What happened to him was really just a blip on the radar, not a serious injury at all, the timing was just horrible,” said Barry Irwin, chief executive officer of Team Valor International in a release. “We’re excited to get him back. We have a goal in mind for him at the end of the year, but we don’t want to say what it is just yet.”

This will be Animal Kingdom’s second comeback from a prolonged trip to the sidelines. The colt, who was second in the Preakness Stakes and suffered a slab fracture in his left hind leg when he came in sixth in the Belmont Stakes in June 2011. That injury sidelined him for the rest of the year.

The colt returned to win an allowance optional claiming race on February 18 at Gulfstream Park. This has been his only start this year. The recent injury was detected while he was preparing for the Dubai World Cup. turf, his only start this year before the injury was detected.

Kentucky Derby Tours is looking forward to watching him race again.