Posted on 05/26/2006 8:17:39 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
If the doors of perception were ever cleansed, the major event attendant to the 2006 Preakness might make a little more sense.
Of course, if thoroughbred racing's doors of perception were ever thoroughly cleansed, the parimutuel part of the game probably would no longer exist. Only the gentried shooing flies and imbecilic bottom clockers would remain.
Instead, an industry constantly trying to tether itself to the major American sports leaderboard once again finds itself in the midst of another plow-out after the near- fatal racing injuries suffered by Kentucky Derby champion Barbaro last Saturday at Pimlico Race Course.
On Thursday, the colt was reported to be continuing his recovery on the uptick at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa. According to chief veterinary surgeon Dean Richardson, "Barbaro is progressing nicely, has totally normal vital signs and is in excellent condition.''
Said Corinne Sweeney, executive director of the Widener Hospital at the New Bolton Center: "It was another boring day, which is all we want for him right now. Boring day upon boring day while his recovery moves forward.''
But like love and carriage, horse and marriage, racetracks and conspiracy theories are a match made in a dramatist's heaven. It was not by mere coincidence that Oliver Stone chose ominously opaque ovals as the backdrops for critical scenes in both "JFK'' and "Nixon.'' As breeding grounds for suspicion and rich-men-gone-Machiavellian, racetracks historically are Z-number-one, top of the heap.
The central pegs for conspiracy theorists studying video replay of NBC's coverage of the final moments leading to the Preakness and Barbaro's dart with death are reasonably compelling: Why didn't attending veterinarians employed by the Maryland Racing Commission make a more thorough examination of the star colt after he prematurely broke through the starting gate? And why didn't they err on the side of caution and scratch the horse?
Missing footage, fast inspection
The total elapsed time from the instant Barbaro breaks through the gate (at 1:15:42 of the NBC telecast) until he is jogged back, ostensibly examined and the race begins (at 1:17:01) is 1 minute, 19 seconds. A key live portion of that span -- when David G. Zipf, chief veterinarian for the Maryland Racing Commission, insists he examined the colt thoroughly enough to predict a safe run -- is not available on the NBC tape because the network opted to replay Barbaro breaking through the gate.
Instead, only live observers closest to the Pimlico starting gate saw what actually happened. And Zipf has told multiple reporters that all was as normal as could be under the extraordinary circumstance, noting: "I went through the stall he was in and followed him back around. Once he was gathered up [by an outrider] and turned around, the first thing I looked for was head trauma or abrasions or cuts. I then walked behind him as he trotted back to make sure, leg-wise, that there was no problem.
"I could see nothing that would insult his performance. [I] saw no problems with his head or legs. I'm certain there was nothing that would predispose to the injury that occurred in the race.
"We want people to know the circumstances so we can eliminate speculation that isn't warranted. I don't want there to be any gray areas about what we do.''
Had there been any sign of blood anywhere on Barbaro, according to thoroughbred-racing experts in Maryland and Illinois, the colt would have been scratched. Whether there was developing bruising to a front leg that might have contributed to the disaster has not been commented on by any of the principals in the saga.
But in the minutes when an injured Barbaro was being returned to the stakes barn on the Pimlico backstretch, retired Hall of Fame jockey/Preakness analyst Gary Stevens told the NBC audience: "One thing that happens so often -- if there is a front-leg injury -- perhaps he was trying to get off something on the front end and put too much stress on the back end to cause this problem. But that's all speculation.''
The amount of pressure it took Barbaro to break the starting gate also has been overstated in some quarters. Industry experts say a mere 30 pounds of force is enough to pop the barrier.
Equally speculative is the weighing of factors that could have induced Zipf to order a scratch during the brief interval between Barbaro's false start and the opening bell. While such a decision would have come across as positively Churchillian in its depth of instantaneous courage and nobility, the move also would have arbitrarily ended the annual pursuit of a Triple Crown -- the Holy springtime Grail of racetrack marketing.
A veterinarian's scratch also would have forced the refund of millions of dollars wagered on Barbaro and added to the growing image of Pimlico as a haunted and scary thoroughbred venue.
A little help for the horse
What can't be overstated is the amount of sheer luck that played into the rapid stabilization of Barbaro and his quick transport to the New Bolton Center. The colt caught an enormous break when no skin was broken despite his triple fracture. Had there been any ripped outer tissue, his chances of survival would have dropped to 10 percent, according to equine medical authorities.
Also, with the Baltimore police clearing an exit path in the congested neighborhood around Pimlico, Barbaro made the 73-mile trip to the Widener Hospital in less than 90 minutes. The trip was a reverse of the same one Barbaro had made the previous morning from the Fair Hill Training Center in nearby Elkton, Md., to Pimlico, so some have suggested the specter of a return home might have helped calm the damaged horse.
The hospital is also the only one in the mid-Atlantic region with a water pool for post-op recovery, Richardson said. That greatly assisted Barbaro in the hours after his six-hour surgery Sunday. And a huge positive, Sweeney said, has been the colt's intelligence and comprehension of events.
"Some horses fight treatment, often with fatal consequences,'' she said. "Others, like Barbaro, understand that you are trying to help them.''
''All we want,'' said Gretchen Jackson, who co-owns Barbaro with husband Roy and sits on the 24-member board that oversees the New Bolton Center, "is for him to lead a pain-free life.''
Perhaps out of the darkness, thoroughbred racing's doors of perception will be cleansed.
jodonnell@suntimes.com
I remember watching on TV when the great filly, Ruffian, broke her leg. Before I even noticed anything amiss, Dad hollered out, "She's pulling up lame". His eyes for horses were thoses of a true natural horseman. I know that he didn't watch the Preakness this year or I'd ask him. I remember watching Ruffian fretting and looking towards the retreating back side of her rival. The competitiveness in her not wanting to accept seeing another horse in the lead. She was a great one!
Indeed. The heartbreak of watching how long it took Barbaros to come to a stop was upsetting enough.
That's funny! We stood a world champion Tennessee Walking horse whose preferences ran for short mares (15.2 and under hands) with wide hips. If the mare was close to 16 hands, even in good heat, forget it.
I used to breed and show Siamese cats, and I had one queen who was very picky about who she would breed with, even in full season. She rejected one very desirable Lilac Point boy out of hand - much preferring his Blue Point rival (the Lilac Point boy, Hot Shot, would pee in Apache's water bowl if given half a chance. But Apache got the girl.)
Apparently Barbaro is a much calmer patient than Ruffian -- it was during the post-surgery recovery period that she reinjured herself so badly. Of course, the recovery methods and technology have improved too.
The starting gate evolved from permanent partitions set in chute extensions I believe at Agua Caliente in the 1920s or 30s. The next step was the rolling gate without doors, just partitions. The starting gate as we know it dates to at least the 1940s.
As late as the mid-1960s, Laurel's Washington DC International was started using a web stretched across the track to accomodate horses from outside North America without gate experience. Kelso ran in at least one of these.
I want to know more about Brother Derek too....talk about a horse that had horrendous luck from the Derby to the Preakness...Brother Derek got a bum rap.
Lost his horseshoe in the Derby and drew a lousy post position but still managed to come in 4th. He was next to Barbaro at the Preakness and had to pull his horse aside? did anyone see the clip?
Now, Brother Derek is not running in the Belmonts
I this this was used in Australia, in the 1930s. As I understand it, Australia was the first racing association to buck the Jockey Club (England) and experiment with starting gates, photo finishes, etc.
He was fine. People absolutely LOVE to find things wrong. Next people will be trying to connect the fact that the owner is a grandson of the Rockerfellers and trying to connect Barbaros injury to President Bush.
I was thinking more in the cowboy day when they just fired a gun:') I like watching horses run but I don't like to watch horses race.
We were out hunting, and 3-4 teenagers went whipping past us on T'breds and QHs . . . their legs were a blur, I mean those horses were MOVING. Gracie and I kept our sedate canter and just watched them go by . . .
Reading these articles made me bawl all over again. You think the trainer would hurt his horse like that you idiot conspiracy theorists? YOu need to get your heads out from where the sun doesn't shine and look at reality.
Now's a Time for Healing, for Barbaro and for Matz
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/25/sports/othersports/25racing.html
Matz can only dream of what might have been
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/sports/14662143.htm?source=rss&channel=dailynews_sports
Prado's thoughts still with Barbaro
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060526/ap_on_sp_ot/rac_tc1_barbaro_prado_2
Yall go ahead. I'll hang behind. I don't like crowds:')
How's he doing today?
I think it means that a difference of opinion makes a horse race. If everyone had identical information, there would be no advantage to placing a bet, because the posted odds would be proportional to the true probability of each horse winning the race.
The breed book on Thoroughbreds goes back to the start of the breed. DNA tracing was not available 200 years ago. The only way to verify the breeding was live cover that is witnessed by the stallion handler and mare handler. These documents go to the Jockey Club for registration. AI is not allowed for a variety reasons .1) Breeding is supposed to improve the breed. When one stallion predominant the TB breed book then weaknesses come into the breed. 2) Live requires the mare come to the stalion and that keeps breeding more local.
3)DNA testing is not done on horses too expensive for normal registration.
On another thread someone said that a champion Labroador was bred via AI to most of the show dogs and then a weekness cropped up and affected a large portion of the breed.
Not allowing the bred to become too inbred helps the health. Also many sires that were not that great such a Dynaformer, Bararo's sire were not that great as a race horse but has been very sucessful in his offsrping.
He is doing great! The Bloodhorse had an article on the she that they have on his left hind leg to try to protect it from laminitis, or anything else.
http://tcm.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=33737
Can anyone explain why a broken leg is life-threatening for a horse, even if it heals imprefectly?
Well, a couple reasons. From a purely health standpoint, movement is health to a horse. A horse can't lie motionless to heal, he has to move in order to get good circulation to his legs and feet. The lower leg of a horse has almost no muscle, only bone and tendon, neither of which has a lot of blood flow. And it takes good circulation to heal.
Now, shift focus not only on the bad foot, but on the good feet and legs. Horses stalled and not able to move during a convelenscence risk laminitis, an acute circulation-related malady of the foot that, if it progresses, leads to pain so severe and irreversable the only humane thing is to put him down. So it's not just the bad foot, but the rest of his feet that suffer.
So the key will be to get him putting weight on it and walking as soon as is practical without damaging the mend.
Secondarily, from a soundness perspective, since horses are too big and too expensive to keep as big gimpy pets, normally a horse that will never have good movement again is put down. Movement is what we keep horses for, ordinarily. There is some fear that he will not be strong enough to stand on his rear foot well enough to breed. I don't share that fear. Since they fused the ankle, it should heel strong, even if it gives him a rather hitchy walk, he should do fine as a stud, if he can get through the healing process.
There's other mental and physical aspects to stall rest that can be harmful to the horse, but I've explained the big ones somewhat correctly I think.
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