Triple Crown hopeful Barbaro loses... Seriously injured during race

http://www.preakness.com/ ^

[HairOfTheDog]

Post Position	Silks	Horse Name	Trainer	Jockey	Morning Line
1	(NA)	LIKE NOW (Picture NA)	Kiaran McLaughlin	Garrett Gomez	19-1
2		PLATINUM COUPLE	Joseph Lostritto	Jose Espinoza	28-1
3		HEMINGWAY'S KEY	Nick Zito	Jeremy Rose	30-1
4		GREELEY'S LEGACY	George Weaver	Richard Migliore	38-1
5		BROTHER DEREK	Dan Hendricks	Alex Solis	7-2
6		BARBARO	Michael Matz	Edgar Prado	1-2
7		SWEETNORTHERNSAINT	Michael Trombetta	Kent Desormeaux	6-1
8		BERNARDINI	Thomas Albertrani	Javier Castellano	17-1
9		DIABOLICAL	Steve Klesaris	Ramon Dominguez	24-1

[grellis]

If your animal can't go in all three...then don't race them...

Not only are you setting aside the history of the three separate races (they were NOT originally concieved as a three part championship) but you are asking horses to be disqualified from a competition in a manner unheard of in any other sport. Racehorses are athletes. They are allowed to compete in the same way that tennis players, golfers, et al qualify into championships.

[Wolfstar]

"Normally, the way it happens is the fracture above the ankle occurs first," he said. "Before [jockey] Edgar [Prado] could pull him up, the second fracture occurred. It's like if you were in a football game and twisted your ankle badly. The problem is, people know enough to stop. He ran on and that caused the second component to the injury."

Henchester, thanks for the update. Much appreciated.

HairOfTheDog, I wrote exactly that in Post 279 to you. Here's what I posted verbatim: "I knew almost immediately the break was above the ankle, the second break probably happened in those strides he took before the jock could stop him."

You seemed to have thought I was being a smartass or something. I called the break above the ankle before the vets announced it, and I called the sequence of breaks. Can you now at least give me at least some credit for saying what I believed to the the truth instead of just flapping my gums?

[eleni121]

I heard that. He also said that the extent of soft tissue/blood vessel damage could determine whether he survives this. Too bad.

[Lemondropkid31]

I DO!!!! Lemondropkid!!! LOL

[Fairview]

I have no idea what you're talking about, but I don't have either the time or the inclination to post a picture of a bunny with a pancake on its head.

[STARWISE]

Very interesting. I always fantasized and wanted to want to ride horses, but they scared me too much up close.

[HairOfTheDog]

Can you now at least give me at least some credit for saying what I believed to the the truth instead of just flapping my gums?

I might have, if you hadn't asked! It's not a matter of pride or contention where the fractures were. Many of us saw the same thing. But 'good job'!

[HairOfTheDog]

Brother Derek Bled profusely during the race. Not sure why but sometimes they break a vein in their nose.

Any more on this?

[grellis]

It's making me crazy...wasn't there a horse in recent (past 5-8 years) history who was put down, on the field, just after one of the 3C races? Am I imagining something horrific that didn't happen?

I sent my kids out of the room after Barbaro's false start. I knew something bad was going to happen.

[Lemondropkid31]

http://tcm.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=33655

More about the injury;

According to Dr. Larry Bramlage, a prominent equine surgeon with the American Association of Equine Practitioners, Barbaro suffered a condylar fracture of the right hind leg. Below the ankle is a comminuted fracture (meaning it is in pieces) of the first phalax and there is a piece off the sesamoid.

[Lemondropkid31]

"Any more on this?"

No. All the news coming out is all on Barbaro. I haven't heard anythign more.

[joylyn]

No trainer can possibly know on Derby Day whether his horse is going to be ready for the Preakness and the Belmont. Why would you want a requirement that encourages owners and trainers to run animals that are not sound in every way?

The Belmont is one of the premier races of the season. Are you going to cancel it because it is quite possible that no entry will have raced in the Derby and Preakness?

To be blunt, I think there is far too much hype surrounding the Triple Crown, aimed mainly at a public that doesn't follow racing year-round. To me, the Breeders Cup races are more meaningful.

[carton253]

Really... does the history of those three races show that? Think of the most exciting races in our lifetime. They are the ones where horses have stayed in all three races. So, I don't think the history of the three races really prove your hypothesis.

[HairOfTheDog]

The Belmont is one of the premier races of the season. Are you going to cancel it because it is quite possible that no entry will have raced in the Derby and Preakness?

Or more commonly, that a different horse won each?

Carton is trying to make a new kind of competition she thinks sounds good, but it's not what the TC was ever meant to be. Nor does it sound all that interesting to see the same horses run three times.

[Lemondropkid31]

Every tc race you watch, when they talk to the winner, they ask, are you going to the Preakness and they say, "Well we will see how the horse is doing and evaluate him blah blah blah." I am not a hypothesis. It is after watching 20 years of TC races.

[conservativebabe]

This is such a terrible tragedy. I am hoping for the best for this magnificent creature.

[Wolfstar]

I might have, if you hadn't asked!

I only asked due to your unexpected hostility, which I'll chalk up to being upset over what happened.

But 'good job'!

Not a good job, just an eye that's seen too much of it and a soul that hurts too much anymore when something like that happens. For me, it hasn't gotten easier through the years, it's gotten harder. :(

Do you remember Go For Wand, the great filly? She broke down right in front of the grandstands during Breeders Cup day some years ago. I still remember one of the women connected to the filly, the owner's wife, I think, who wailed, "What have they done to my baby?"

[carton253]

What a minute... you are being pretty hard on the trainers. Are they just a mercernary breed that would willingly do that to their multi-million dollar horses, whose careers extend far beyond the Triple Crown races?

What no one on this thread has done is address my central point.

All horses must carry the same weight? Why? To make everything even.

IF the schedule is part of the test... then why should some horse get to skip that part?

[SHOOT THE MOON bat]

Sorry, I was talking about the fact that you said that the horse would be saved because it is worth alot of money and it reminded me of the ridiculous sermon at church tonight. I was just trying to lighten things up a bit, people seem to be getting angry at each other.

[Lemondropkid31]

The trainer's wife come near to having a break down after Go For Wand died. The trainer said his wife loved that horse more than she loved him. The owner was this 90 year old lady. Her husband was dead.