The ultimate in "thrill of victory" and the agony of defeat. I watched the Kentucky Derby live as I've done pretty much every year that I can remember being alive. Favorite Big Brown won the race, the first horse to pull off a win from the 20th position since the 1950s.
Sadly, Eight Belles who finished second pulled up just past the finish line, apparently having broken both front ankles. She was immediately euthanized.
The emotional whirlwind of being excited for the Big Brown team to seeing Eight Belles on the ground, then seeing the the equine ambulances pull up was quite extreme.
The time lapse from "usually that's some type of heart problem or aneurism to hearing the reports that the filly had broken both of her front ankles and was immediately euthanized was brief. A very jarring and tragic outcome. I've loved animals all my life and find horses among the most beautiful, the experience really tugs at my heart. Horse racing at times can be both very beautiful and very brutal.
This breaks my heart. I’m a vet, and I have to see pain and suffering every day . . . but this is somehow different. My mom and I have watched races for years, but we stopped after cheering for Barbaro in the Preakness and watching his injury last year. We thought we’d try watching again today, and ended up in tears again when “our horse” got hurt yet again. I give up on trying to enjoy racing. Never again.
This is why I hate horse racing–it’s humans using horses for fun and gambling. If this horse wasn’t racing, its ankles wouldn’t have broken and it would still be alive.
Angie, without horse racing it could be argued that Eight Belles would never have been born to begin with. But I understand your frustration and find myself mostly sharing in your viewpoint at the moment.
you put that perfectly.
I’ve owned, competed on horses for over 30 years. I still have a problem with the Thoroughbred industry. We wait till our horses are of an older age before we put that kind of pressure on their bodies and minds. They are taking them out as 2 yr. olds to prepare them so that by the time their 3 they can compete. It’s the same as taking a juvenile and asking them to run an Olympic race. Their bones and ligaments and tendons have not fully deveoped yet. That is the reason you’re seeing them go down. But the people in the industry won’t change it. So they keep breaking them down. And it goes on ALL the time. I for one am changing my mind about being a fan of horse racing. It’s all about money. It’s sad. My family competes on horses in barrel racing but we give them time to mature and get strong before there is any kind of racing. Only the publics outcry will get them to make changes. They could all go to a synthetic track (rubberized) as well. Many are changing in that aspect but unfortunately Churchill Downs still hasn’t. Therefore, the filly ‘Eight Belles’ had to pay the price….
Someone really needs to explain to me why these magnificent animals are put through this. Because all I see is a bunch of rich white women wearing goofy hats and a lot of money changing hands, and horses that either die on the track or in the awful conditions most race horses dwell in. Anyone who thinks most race horses live idyllic, pampered lives hasn’t visited the paddocks at Belmont, Aquaduct, or any of the other tracks where most live in small, filthy stalls and get shipped off to god knows where if they don’t produce. What an awful sport. No wonder so many criminals like it.
Chex said that pretty well. In addition, we have to remember that quarterhorses are very specialized creatures. They are specially bred with nothing but speed in mind and part of the physiology that makes them so damned fast also makes them vulnerable to these types of injuries. Added maturity might help, but as long as they race quarterhorses, this will continue to happen.
So what is the solution, folks? I was disturbed when I saw the images of the filly laying on the ground and immediately thought “they shouldn’t have broadcast that”
But then after all, that’s probably what tore at me the most. The stark reality of the result of this industry, beauty and glory laying helpless on the dirt track. If I didn’t see it, I probably wouldn’t have felt so strongly.
This just hurts. It took my mom and I months of mourning the loss of Barbaro to even THINK about watching horse racing, and then this is what we see. It’s an omen, I tell you.
There is already some discussion that she had not gotten a full work-up before the race and her ankles were already fractured and she was drugged so she wouldn’t feel it–that’s why it seemed so sudden when strain of the race snapped both her legs.
I honestly don’t understand the sport. I grew up with two quarterhorses (different breed, I know, but same animal) and I can’t imagine having put them through something like horse racing. We did a little bit of competition (the stock type did barrel racing), but they were older and it was not very often. And it did not involve whips or riding them to the death. Horseracing is the equivalent of dog fighting to me. They drug these horses to the gills with anti-inflammatories, steroids, Lasix . . . you name it, they are doped on it so that they can continue to compete. And as Chex said, these horses are basically “children” whose bodies can’t handle it. No 3 year old horse’s heart should need to give out, nor should their legs snap.
The racing destroys their bodies quickly – they race for about a year and then they either break something and die, are used for breeding, or sent to pasture until they are put down (that’s why you see new horses in the Derby every year). They rarely live good adult lives or become someone’s beloved animals.
I just cannot understand how the law in 2008 still permits this kind of things to happen. I know that human deaths occur in sports also but at least the humans agree to what they’re doing.
I have to correct my previous post. Actually there is a law against animal cruelty, but it seems no one has the courage to apply it in this case. Even without a killed horse the beating of the poor animals is more than cruel.
Dr Meg you echo my thoughts exactly. It really upset me for the whole day. I’m not sure that I ever want to go to another race, or even watch a race on tv. What beautiful animals.
To me, there is nothing more pleasant than spending a day at the local thoroughbred track, watching the horses race and placing small bets on long shots. I’ve always known that the horses were at risk, but I always kind of figured that these things were exceedingly rare. I may have to rethink my love of the sport if this appears not be true. Does somebody have any numbers on how often this type of thing happens?
dave – I might be off on this and I am sorry if I am, but I have always been a big racing fan as well and my understanding is that roughly 1 in 400 starts results in an injury
how sad these tragedies are ……
thanks for those numbers.
A quick google search revealed some a handful of different numbers depending on the source, but all seemed consistent with yours.
maybe this tragedy is what it takes to force reform in the sport. From what i've read, a move to synthetic tracks, drug reform, and more responsible breeding/training could do wonders.
I've ridden all my life and have always condemed flat racing. It is nothing more than animal cruelty and abuse and NOTHING will convince me otherwise. Turf and running at such an early age is only half the problem. Breeding is done for speed and nothing else is taken into consideration except winning and money.
Eight Belles' trainer, Larry Jones' comments in The New York Times seemed smug and it made me sick to read them. And don't feel sorry for the owners – they have their insurance policy. Feel sorry for the beautiful animal who was trained to run herself to death – that they want to run that fast is just baloney. Horses have a true sense of self preservation and riders and trainers can take that away from them.
I haven't watched a Triple Crown since Ruffian was put down after a STAKES race – not even the Triple Crown. An ego and money race to see what horse is best. I hold this industry with nothing but contempt and disgust.
I've been soul-searching ever since the race. I find rationalizations for the sport itself, and then tear those rationalizations apart. As much as I love animals and support their welfare, in our current sociocultural paradigm they are someone else's property to do with as they will. It doesn't make it right, but there it is. As far as the training too much too soon and too hard, heeck, people do about the same thing to girl gymnasts, and they are HUMAN CHILDREN.
If you think about it, a tremendous amount of animal suffering goes on every day. Eight Belles had a quick end, at least; anyone who has ever looked into abattoir management knows that is not the case for a lot of production animals. But yet we benefit from the process every day (unless you are a radical vegan or something). Is the “need” we have for entertainment any less reason to use the animals that our culture deems as property? Is it right for someone to keep a dog that they neglect and let be slightly malnourished and fleabitten? What if that dog was the only decent companionship that the 11-year old abused boy in the house can get? Then does it become more acceptable? I am not pretending to know all the answers, I am just trying to think about the right questions.
I think that the reason we are all so upset is that this was the demise of a beautiful glorious animal who was performing and entertaining us. I think the key is pushing for changes within the rules of the sport that would reduce injury. But I don't think that we should vilify the sport, even though my emotions tell me to rant away.
thanks for those numbers.
A quick google search revealed some a handful of different numbers depending on the source, but all seemed consistent with yours.
maybe this tragedy is what it takes to force reform in the sport. From what i've read, a move to synthetic tracks, drug reform, and more responsible breeding/training could do wonders.
I've ridden all my life and have always condemed flat racing. It is nothing more than animal cruelty and abuse and NOTHING will convince me otherwise. Turf and running at such an early age is only half the problem. Breeding is done for speed and nothing else is taken into consideration except winning and money.
Eight Belles' trainer, Larry Jones' comments in The New York Times seemed smug and it made me sick to read them. And don't feel sorry for the owners – they have their insurance policy. Feel sorry for the beautiful animal who was trained to run herself to death – that they want to run that fast is just baloney. Horses have a true sense of self preservation and riders and trainers can take that away from them.
I haven't watched a Triple Crown since Ruffian was put down after a STAKES race – not even the Triple Crown. An ego and money race to see what horse is best. I hold this industry with nothing but contempt and disgust.
I've been soul-searching ever since the race. I find rationalizations for the sport itself, and then tear those rationalizations apart. As much as I love animals and support their welfare, in our current sociocultural paradigm they are someone else's property to do with as they will. It doesn't make it right, but there it is. As far as the training too much too soon and too hard, heeck, people do about the same thing to girl gymnasts, and they are HUMAN CHILDREN.
If you think about it, a tremendous amount of animal suffering goes on every day. Eight Belles had a quick end, at least; anyone who has ever looked into abattoir management knows that is not the case for a lot of production animals. But yet we benefit from the process every day (unless you are a radical vegan or something). Is the “need” we have for entertainment any less reason to use the animals that our culture deems as property? Is it right for someone to keep a dog that they neglect and let be slightly malnourished and fleabitten? What if that dog was the only decent companionship that the 11-year old abused boy in the house can get? Then does it become more acceptable? I am not pretending to know all the answers, I am just trying to think about the right questions.
I think that the reason we are all so upset is that this was the demise of a beautiful glorious animal who was performing and entertaining us. I think the key is pushing for changes within the rules of the sport that would reduce injury. But I don't think that we should vilify the sport, even though my emotions tell me to rant away.