Posted on 05/14/2004 10:12:40 AM PDT by Types_with_Fist
What sealed his doom was Johnny Loftus getting boxed in on the rail by Donnaconna and having to swing outside in the final eighth.
Loftus was actually denied a license in 1920 because he was suspected of having thrown the race.
IMO she damaged that leg so badly there on the track that the surgery could not have succeeded in any event. I think I heard or read somewhere that the story about her thrashing after surgery was just that, a story. It would have been standard procedure to immobilize the leg (and her) in a crush as she came out from under the anesthesia. I've never assisted at operating room surgery on a multi-million dollar racehorse - just field surgery on your average moke - but we always had them restrained when they started to come around, even if it was only a matter of sitting on their heads and having a rope around one hind leg led through a loop on their neck. I can't believe that the vets wouldn't have had that leg not only cast but braced seven ways to Sunday.
Oh yea, I got em', even baby pictures. The good byes were teary when the former owner parted with him and she still meets the wife over at the stable for visits. I'm in the field now so I can't post one but I'll get one up.
BTW, how far from Benning are you? We were down there ~1967/8 when dad was posted there and I was a tyke. We had a big mare named Sal then, she was HUGE, even to my parents. Couldn't take her to Rucker or on (after dads two Vietnam tours) to Moscow Idaho though so she went to another horse loving serviceman :-)
Could Sal have been a Clydesdale? :-D
Nice bay thoroughbred. My mare is 24 and a blood bay. We did everything from fox hunting to croscountry and hunt races. Now I just trail ride.
Never bothered much with all that new age stuff. Could not afford that and unnecessary if you have a good sound animal that has been well trained.Sounds like your wife's horse was well trained and very willing.
Heh.
The Wife & I went to hear Jane Smiley read from her latest two books on Monday night- She wrote "Horse HEaven", a novel about racing, and then "A Year At The Races", a non-fiction book. She thinks Smarty Jones will do it. I turned tomy wife, & Said, I'm putting $20 on Jones!
LC
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