Posted on 05/03/2008 9:34:08 PM PDT by red flanker
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A quarter mile past the finish line in the Kentucky Derby, a gallant runner-up effort by the filly Eight Belles was forgotten in an instant.
In a freak accident that one experienced racetrack veterinarian said he had never seen before, the 3-year-old daughter of Unbridled’s Song apparently snapped both of her front ankles simultaneously as she galloped out after the race, sending her crashing hard to the Churchill Downs dirt racetrack. She was euthanized moments later, after vets determined there was no chance to save her.
“She had finished the race and was around the turn at the start of the backstretch and right near one of the outriders as they were watching,” said Dr. Larry Bramlage, on-call veterinarian for the race. “He saw both front ankles just collapse.”
While such an injury on only one leg might have given her a fighting chance to survive, “she didn’t have a front leg to stand on to be splinted and hauled off in the ambulance, so she was immediately euthanized,” Bramlage said.
He said such a double simultaneous break is an extremely rare occurrence.
“In my years in racing, I have never seen this happen,” he said. “... There was no possible way to save her.”
Jockey Gabriel Saez, who was thrown when the filly went down, walked away, apparently uninjured.
Trainer Larry Jones, who a day earlier celebrated winning the Kentucky Oaks with Eight Belles’ stablemate, Proud Spell, went to his barn immediately after the accident and could not be reached for comment.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnky.net ...
There is also a genetic component to these failures. The Friday Wall Street Journal had a story about the the inbreeding using the genetic stock of Native Dancer and how it has affected recent horses like Barbaro.
~sigh~
I was rather luke warm about even watching this race, but I did. I’m a long time horse owner, but not necessarily a racing aficionado. In past year I was able to get excited for the Triple Crown races, but after the heartbreak of Barbaro, and then the recent heartbreak of Frodo Baggins in the Rolex, I had just become a little too uneasy about watching equine sport at this level, where even the strongest are tested to the max and can fail.
“What’s wrong” lately might be a lot of things. From hanging out here, a horse forum, and a farrier forum, I see that a lot of the speculation has to do with perspective and background.
The horse forum discussion focuses on age. In pleasure and show horses, responsible trainers don’t train and ride horses before two, many prefer to wait until they are 3 or 4 to ride them with any kind of intensity, older than that before they are run hard or jumped. The horse matures from the ground up, and is not fully mature till around 5. And yet these racehorses are backed and started at 1 1/2 to race at 2. They have to earn their way to the Derby with winnings as 2 year olds.
Now... just because a horse is young doesn’t mean it should be bubble wrapped and prevented from moving... good exercise, including running and playing in big wide open spaces is vital to physical development, just as it is for our own children during the growing phase. Some work under saddle during the growing phase of a horse is arguably good for them, the movement and ‘stress’ to the structure while they are still growing encourages them to grow even stronger. The debate is always about how much is too much. The powers-that-be will never raise the age these horses are raised, so the question may be moot.
Now, in the horse forum, there are several members who own and breed race horses, or at least follow it closer than I do. Some of them argue that today’s top racehorses (the stallions anyway) are actually not run enough, and are akin to hothouse flowers. They are raced selectively and carefully to chock up enough careful wins to retire them to stud, and they are not tested nearly enough before passing on their genes to the next generation. “Big Brown” may be one of these in the making. He was raced only three times before yesterday, and if he goes on to win the TC, a smart investor would say he should be bubble wrapped and retired to stud before anything bad happens and spend the rest of his days making more thoroughbreds. In earlier years, he’d have been raced, and his racing performance would be his legacy. Oh he’d have been bred, but he’d have still had a day job, and it would only be those horses who were truly strong enough to hold up for the long term who would eventually retire to stud farms. I don’t know, but I’d guess an argument could be made that if you want a strong gene pool, you’d breed not from the fastest 3 year olds, but from the racehorses who are still running sound at 6 or 7 or beyond. Yes, you’ll break down a lot of horses, which is what they used to do. It was survival of the fittest.
So the argument is a lot of relatively weak genetics is having a trickle-down effect on the thoroughbred. TBs have notoriously weak feet. Ask any farrier. Thin, weak, brittle hoof walls. But with the advent of modern farriery, these horses can be fitted with shoes that allow them to perform anyway. Is the thin brittle structure of the feet only the most obvious indication of thin and brittle bones within? I don’t know. But a horse having bad feet these days does not prevent him from racing and breeding and passing on those genes either, the way it might have in the past.
Many TBs who don’t stay on the track certainly go on to successful careers as performance horses and jumpers. There’s nothing I’ve seen that indicates the mature TB does not have good strong bones. At least the genes that excel in jumping anyway...
At the farrier forum they believe that the advent of the tow grab shoe is contributing to breakdown. That the added traction increases stress to the limb. The inevitable sliding at each footfall without them greatly reduces the stress on the limb, and that slipping and sliding also would make them run more carefully... and slower.
Track surfaces also are often discussed, that the hard fast track of Churchill Downs is harder on horses than the newer rubber tracks. I’m sure it is. Good science needs to continue to be applied to the design of the surfaces to make sure they are as safe as they can be.... But that also would tend to allow inferior horses to run sound, contributing to that hot-house flower effect.
Anyway... after thinking about it and watching a lot of discussion, those are my thoughts, in no particular order.
ooops - now I see typos... “Age that they are raced”, and it should be “toe-grab shoes” not tow grab.
Greed is a sin.
I just bought an Arabian. I’m 160#, and my wife is 125...we don’t need a big horse. Leg strength has more to do with proportions than size - thoroughbreds are big horses with thin legs. Good for speed, but blinding speed isn’t all.
Can’t speak to race care drivers, but no jockey just sits and steers! I’ll take it you haven’t done much riding...
Thank You.
Jockeys are great athletes. Try being a 120 lb. man or woman, just trying to sit on a 1000lb. animal going 40 mph. Now try directing that animal or trying to pull him up if he doesn’t want to. Now try doing that in a field of five, with those other animals bumping in to you or running up behind you, etc. Now try doing that in a field of twenty.
That jockey’s life is on the line every minute.
You couldn’t be more wrong.
“If you go looking for good hard evidence that jockeys in American thoroughbred racing are important, you’ll be looking a long time.”
Right, just let the horses run around the circle in a pack. That sounds like a lot of fun. Shoot, half the horses wouldn’t even make the turn. They’d run until they got to the rail and jump it or just stop.
You know, the same folks that say TBs are over raced are probably the same ones claiming Big Brown couldn’t win because he hadn’t run enough.
I would contend that today’s TBs are under raced and absolutely agree with your point that young horses need to get out and play and bang around. Rough-house like kids do. Some of today’s horses are so valuable, they probably don’t do that enough.
The rider wasn’t paying attention. Was getting ready for an interview. I think Big Brown sensed that and sent Desormeaux a message.
Funny thing, just the other day Kent was bragging that Fusiachi Pegasus (the Derby winner he compared BB to) never dumped him.
Learn to read. There just isn’t a lot of evidence that one thoroughbred jockey is much better than another at getting his mount into the winners circle.
Indirectly these things can matter; trainer intentions and stuff like that.
But put a good harness jock on a glue factory special and race(pace or trot) him against a lousy harness jock on a good horse, and that good jock can often turn the tables.
If you don’t believe it, go to Equibase and download tens of thousands of races to see for yourself. Or be smart and let those who have done the research tell you.
I don’t know anything about race car driving- but I’d be willing to bet if you rode a race horse, even a slow one at training speed you would get a new appreciation for the athleticism of jockeys. They do far more than just sit there. Great, and even good jockeys have to be in top physical condition- and have to be mentally smart (lot of strategy involved to work out in very short time) and mentally tough. It is one of those jobs that is not
anywhere near as easy as the good ones make it look.
“Learn to read.”
No reason to insult. You made a stupid comment, I didn’t insult you, I made a joke.
Screw you.
I can’t watch horse racing anymore. It’s too rough on the animals. Glad that I didn’t see this one.
I have actually studied the data. Its more than a hobby for me. It wasn’t a stupid comment; it is a fact. You haven’t studied the data, nor have you read the work of someone who has. I didn’t insult you, I gave you sound advice.
Do you believe in clutch hitting too?
“Its more than a hobby for me.”
Wow, I’m impressed. You can keep your advice. You have no idea who you’re talking to.
It doesn’t matter who I’m talking to. I know the data. Plenty of horse people don’t believe the data. And plenty of baseball people believe clutch hitting exists as a repeatable phenomenon too. And those baseball people are ignorant fools.
I do suppose that analogy is a bit harsh. If you’re an experienced, profitable thoroughbred handicapper and you’ve got an opinion on a jock, it might be worth something. Maybe.
Take a Racing Form and ignore the jock info. The loss won’t hurt your wallet. Take the jockey info away from a harness program and the handicapper who has it will become very wealthy, very quickly.
Yawn.
more info
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