Posted on 05/03/2008 4:21:34 PM PDT by SE Mom
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)—The filly Eight Belles finished second behind favorite Big Brown in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, then collapsed with two broken front ankles and was euthanized after crossing the wire.
The field of 20 horses was galloping out around the first turn at Churchill Downs when Eight Belles suddenly went down on both front legs and jockey Gabriel Saez slid off.
“When we passed the wire I stood up,” said Saez, a first-time Derby rider. “She started galloping funny. I tried to pull her up. That’s when she went down.”
An equine ambulance reached her on the track and put down the filly.
“There was no possible way to save her,” on-call veterinarian Dr. Larry Bramlage said. “She broke both front ankles. That’s a bad injury.”
Trainer Larry Jones and owner Rick Porter decided to run Eight Belles against the boys in America’s greatest race despite her never having done so before. She also was entered in Friday’s Kentucky Oaks for fillies, but instead Jones won that race with Proud Spell and set himself up to pull off the double.
Eight Belles was the first filly since 1999 to run in the Derby; the last to win was Winning Colors in 1988. She didn’t press 2-1 favorite Big Brown down the stretch, and he drew away to a 4 3/4 -length victory.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
No, but I turned the TV on when I got home and the Derby coverage is still on. I’ll watch to see if he will make a statement.
Absolutely tragic. She was a beautiful creature. Have yet to see the video, and not sure I want to see it. Reminds me a Barbaro...
Wasn’t this the horse Hillary was betting on?
I don’t believe I’ll be able to watch again- but it’s here- video on right if anyone is interested...
Thanks for moving the Chelsea thread here, mware. Definitely more appropriate. :-D
YES, very sad ... .
I agree, KY. But, maybe breeding has caused an even more dangerous situation. I really don’t recall the number of breakdowns that have happened in the last..five or ten years.
I have “rescued” (at a cost) a couple of former filly racers. Once off the lasiks, etc. and in a normal horse enviornment, when bred with my “mutt” studs, their progeny have been sturdy. Of course, they will never race, the industry would never allow it. Nor would I.
Tragic ... a beautiful horse. Isn’t this the horse (filly) the hildabeast was backing because in her warped world somehow there was a comparison?
Someone believes Eight Belles never had a chance to get through it uninjured:
Kentucky thoroughbred racing columnist Paul Moran, April 30, 2008, wrote the following column:
“Where are the animal rights activists when you need them?
Eight Belles was entered in the 134th Kentucky Derby on Wednesday. Success would demand that she run 10 furlongs faster than 19 males. There is the most remote possibility that she will succeed, this covered by one of life’s immutable truths: Anything can happen in a horse race.
What is far more likely is that Eight Belles will be permanently scarred by the experience.
Three fillies have won the Derby, in 1915, Genuine Risk, Genuine Risk, in 1981, and Winning Colors, whose victory will mark its 20th anniversary on Saturday.
Regret, though she was generally unsound, was an extremely fast filly whose regularly defeated males. But Genuine Risk and Winning Colors were nothing like Eight Belles. Both were big, rugged fillies who competed against males on even physical terms. Winning Colors defeated males in the Santa Anita Derby before the Derby. Genuine Risk prepped for the Derby in the Wood Memorial, in which she finished third.
Eight Belles has nothing in common with those fillies.
She is, however, a beautifully conformed filly, light-framed and feminine. Her misfortune is not trainer Larry Jones, who skirts the issue uncomfortably. A trainer who criticizes the decisions made by an owner will not be training for long. Though he came here a year ago with Hard Spun, who was runner-up to Street Sense, Jones shows no symptoms of Derby fever and he seems uncomfortable discussing Eight Belles’ chances in the Derby. Owner Rick Porter, however, is apparently beset by Derby fever.
Unlike the three fillies who have won the Derby, Eight Belles has never faced males nor has she attempted a race beyond 1 1/16. She has won her last four races, one in New Orleans, three in Arkansas but none in Grade I company. She would be formidable in the Oaks on Friday, in which Jones has Proud Spell for more reasonable, less vain connections who are probably concerned with the welfare and well being of their prized filly.
There is no reason beyond vanity to run Eight Belles in the Derby, either. As a breeding prospect, her value may be increased but a broodmare can produce only one foal a year. Breeders found it almost impossible for Genuine Risk to conceive and Winning Colors has had no impact as a broodmare.
The only thing that might have saved Eight Belles from the cruelty she is about to endure was a poor post position but the draw put her connections sixth in order of selection, assuring a favorable position in the barrier a day after she drew the outside post in a field of 12 entered in the Oaks. She will face the firing squad from post five.
Porter has enjoyed great success, having owned the very good filly, Jostle, a Grade I winner in 2000, Round Pond, winner of the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Distaff and Hard Spun, who he sold for an enormous amount of money last year. Porter should know better. He should also show a bit of compassion for a very nice, still developing filly who, if he sends her into the teeth of a buzzsaw on Saturday, may very well leave he career in the shadows of the twin spires. If so, it will be a sad, sad day. –PM
The Derby takes shape
Although an outside post is rarely a obstacle in the Kentucky Derby, it does a great deal to determine the dynamic and the luck of the draw in the two-tiered system used to decide position in the barrier put the principal speed horses and the favorite in tough spots, in the case of Big Brown, it was voluntary.
The draw was marked by an unprecedented display of arrogance by the connections of Big Brown, who with several positions still open, chose post 20. Only one Derby winner has overcome the outside post in a field of 20 – Clyde Van Dusen, in 1929. His connections did not choose that post, however. Nevertheless, Big Brown was installed at the 3-1 morning-line favorite.
Since Clyde Van Dusen, 10 horses breaking from the outside post in Derby fields of 20 or more have, with the exception of Caveat, who finished third in 1983, have to crack the top three.
Three speed horses –Cowboy Cal, Recapturetheglory and Gayego – are immediately inside Big Brown in the barrier and Bob Black Jack will depart from post 13, all but assuring a wild run to the first turn and an extremely fast pace. Rick Dutrow and Big Brown’s connections may have left their Derby chances in downtown Louisville on Wednesday.
Two horses will go into the Derby with blinkers on, two others with blinkers off. Surprisingly, one of those with blinkers on, Bob Black Jack, the world-record holder for six furlongs, already has high early speed, a curious decision by an obscure trainer. Court Vision, who breaks from the four post, also goes with blinkers. Removing the hood: Anak Nakal and Z Humor.—PM
Didn’t clinton say to bet on the philly last week? Is this an omen?
Yes- I believe Hillary made quite a fuss about backing Eight Belles...
This just ruins the day for me :-(
I wish the owners, trainers, jockeys, race track officials, and state vets, understood how much damage it does when break downs happen.
I asked some people, who had never watched a horse race before, to check out the Derby. I'm sure this was the first and last horse race they'll ever want to watch. And what can I say?-Nothing. Nobody wants to watch a beautiful animal die.
Better to watch NASCAR. Most of the time-no matter how bad a crash may look- the driver is OK. and the cars can be fixed.
The winner Big Brown got upset on the post race trot with the steward and actually threw the jockey. It was looking very excited just before it unseated the jockey. Strange.
Well I guess I owe the owner, trainer and jockey of Eight Belles an apology. Then again, I'm not convinced there weren't warning signs before or during the race that the filly's health was compromised. I thought I heard *something* regarding Eight Belles during the horrid NBC broadcast before the race. Looks like it's time to hunt down some post-race articles on the web.
#29
That’s prophetic, to say the least.
I think it’s fishy. Not only that they killed Eight Belles outright out on the track, but that there is no video of her collapsing or discussions with the owner/trainer/jockey. She looked fine coming across the finish line. And early on, I saw a couple of horses well boxed in. There was no interest on the part of the media. No concern at all except for someone getting a statement from a vet.
Hillary suggested betting on “the filly.” I guess she identified with her. Sorry to hear about the horse, but I wouldn’t mind Hillary coming in second and having to be put down...
"There's a reason the Lippizan stallions that perform airs above ground and manuevers that would make most people pull a groin muscle are at their prime at 26. They're not introduced to a saddle until they're 3! The Derby field is loaded with three-year-olds. Such a shame. Such a waste."
I guess there is a reason they don't usually run them with the stallions.
I saw her collapse on replay. It was the third horse on the right near turn one.
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