I just watched the "Iso-cam on Big Brown" of the race, looks like she's hurt after the final turn!

(For those how missed it, "Eight Belles," the only Filly running today in the Kentucky Derby, finished second but was promptly euthanized on the track because she went down after breaking both of her front legs near the ankles.)

Unfortunately, the video at the link below labeled "Tragic ending for filly Eight Belles" isn't working, (probably too many people trying to watch it at the same time), but if you check out the video just above that one (after the window pops up) you can watch the race from the camera that is following "Big Brown," it's labeled "Iso-cam on Big Brown."

As you watch, watch closely #5 as they make the final turn. Just after they make the turn for home, "Eight Bells" head twists back and toward the right (like she's trying to tell her rider that she's hurt) and at that point her gate starts to look odd. It looks to me like she starts to run on only three 1/2 legs, but then the rider goes to the whip and she starts to put on her finish run on three 1/2 legs.

That's probably why she broke both legs. Take a look and see if you see what I'm seeing, watch her gate after the head twist.

Here's the link to the story and video: <http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/24445049>

Note: there is nothing graphic in the video "Iso-cam on Big Brown", but I can't speak for any of the other videos.

This was her riders first Kentucky Derby, I bet a more experienced rider would have pulled her up sooner.

Btw, I haven't been watching the so-called MSM "news" today, so if you have, are they talking about the race and if so, what are they saying?

How awful.

...but I bet a jockey with more experience might have pulled her up sooner. That's not to say that pulling up on the home stretch would have saved her, that's impossible to know.

Mainly this post is for those still wondering what and when the first break happened, not trying to place blame here.

Is it normal to use the whip? If that is really what happened, that hurts my soul. Poor girl.

...I'm sure that would be an awful site.

About the whip, they say it's just to get the horses attention when they lose focus, but who could really know for sure if that's right or not.

to see that.

I do wonder about putting a rider that green into a race that big. Perhaps not enough perspective and too much ambition?

Thats 69 yrs.+ My Dad and I always watched it together, and since he died, I watch it alone in his memory. I've been to every track in the New England circuit. Between the tragedy of Barbaro, and what happened today, I'm done. My poor heart can't take it any more. I feel that if the jockey had more experience (especially under pressure like the Derby) this might have been avoided. I won't be watching any more racing, as much as I love it. I see that Chelsea was there today. Maybe because her Mom said to "bet on the filly"??? I wonder if this is an Omen??:cry:

the win and said "That's it, I'm never watching again." My husband didn't tell me until later that she was gone. I lived in Lexington for over 20 years and have watched or been to the Derby for over that many. Never again, no race ever.

I don't know what omen to refer to or why you felt the need to mention Chelsea.

sporting a beautiful hat. My instant reaction was that she was there to "bet on the filly" as her Mom suggested we do. The filly didn't do very well, it pains me to say. I realize now I might have come off sounding a little insensitive comparing the loss of the horse, to Hillary's loss of the race. mea culpa

Her head turns because the jockey pulled on the bridle to turn the horse.

The video of Eight Bells going down is a bit more suggestive of what happened. With the low resolution it's hard to tell definitively, but it looks like her right foreleg gave, and when she stumbled, her left leg got caught up and snapped immediately afterward. Obviously this is just a guess based on scant visual evidence.

Why would it be low resolution in today's world of high technology?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=154&topic_id=1918&mesg_id=1918

The camera is far away? It wasn't focused on her the way a camera would be if she was still running the race or had just won?

I'm talking about the video on the MSNBC site, which I had no problem seeing. But there's not much of it, just the moment right before thru immediately following her fall. She seems to be slowing down fine, then the right leg gives, immediately followed by her falling face forward in a tangle of legs and ejecting the rider.

...and I've never seen a horses head turn this much in the middle of a major horse race before. That jockey would have be a very powerful man to turn her head this much, but maybe that contributed to her injury too?

She's running full-out toward the end of the race, not pulling up even a little bit.

And I can make a horse's head turn like that. It doesn't take all that much power in the rider.

Note that I'm not saying she wasn't injured at this point. (They dope these horses so much that they run injured more than a little, and they have inherent physiological problems galore due to in-breeding.) But I'm not seeing anything all that unusual (for a horse race) in the cam you're pointing to, certainly not anything that suggests she's trying to "tell" the jockey she's hurt. Horses tend to ignore being hurt, especially those trained to do so ... right up to the point their bones snap.

The filly turns her head to the right at 1:47-48 seconds in the video "Iso-cam on Big Brown".

The gait looks a bit weird, now that we can re-run it, but I would not have noticed that at the time.

:cry:

This reminds me so much of Ruffian breaking down in 1975, it's horrible.

I'd like to know that too.

My dad wouldn't touch any horse under 5 yrs old because "they're not grown yet". Racing these colts and fillys at 3 is a recipe for disaster.

the Derby should be banned or they should race older horses with a minimum leg circumstance law.

I cried as I watched in horror today. Another race, another horse down.

(Btw, I grew up on a farm with a 'pleasure' horse I dearly loved.)

Is 3 years considered the best age to race a horse, or is it just the earliest they think the horse reaches it's full potential?

Or is it just a "return on investment" thing?:shrug:

I tried googling for an answer, but found nothing.

Perhaps someone else, on one of the horse threads, would know. This stupid 'tradition' has to begin some where and for some reason. But you're probably right about the quickest 'return on investment' thing.

but they race them none the less.

Arabs have smaller bone then drafts but much more dense

They do race in the desert sand too. Both legs? Nope doesn't make sense to me.

until 'old age.'

same applies to all animals.

Horses are still growing and the bone ends do not fuse until at least 4 or 5. But the market pressures are so high to get a turn around on the investment, that many breeds push to have the horses perform at very early ages. Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds are raced or shown under saddle as early as 2 years old and that generally means they are "backed" or started training for riding as early as 18 months - far too young for their skeletal and muscular development to be ready for stress.

In addition, many horse trainers know little about conditioning and preparation for stress. Endurance and competitive trail riders could teach them a lot about how to condition a horse to peak performance without them breaking down. Competitive trail riding has some horses competing into their 20s - very elderly for horses.

Many Thoroughbreds do not see pasture and get to run and play as youngsters - that is tragic since horses that get that time to develop in open fields get valuable bone and muscle development without stress. And they also get the emotional development when they are turned out with other horses in situations where they can interact. Instead many horses today grow up in 10x10' or 12x12' stalls - basically isolation chambers. They might be able to see other horses led by and while they are ridden and exercised, but that is not the social interaction that they need for normal emotional development.

I've bred Quarter Horses for 30 years and do not believe in starting my horses under saddle until they are at least three years old. Until then, they get turned out in pastures in social groups except when they are getting needed treatment or ground training. I sent one horse to the race track when I first started breeding and HATED how he was handled and how I had to de-program when he came home. Never again! Since then I have concentrated on breeding horses that are capable of all types of uses from trail riding to eventing to working cattle to dressage - and that are sound and sane while doing all of that.

just as I thought.

I hate it when people post about something they know nothing about.

edited to add: you're a compassionate person...and, like most around here, I appreciate that.

forgot to add my respect and appreciation for the pic of that beautiful animal.

That is my old stallion, bred and raised here, and the founding sire of my "herd" (if you can call two broodmares and a few fillies a herd ;-) ).

but Arabians don't race in the derbies.

Thoroughbreds are a standard bred of horse and therefore some standards could be applied. No?

I based my assertion on a discussion with my physician who has studied and raced horses (and runs in races himself) and that's what he said. He also said that the track surfaces could be changed to minimize leg injuries, but that they won't do that. That would be changing tradition?!! Good heavens, changing tradition is....that's...that's something only democrats would think of doing!!! ;)

If that is the case then no they shouldn't race.

People had their young kids playing football and the medical field objected saying their bones were not ready for such abuse. Lifetime injuries were common.

I balled like a baby. Two beautiful majestic animals in two years. First Barbara (RIP baby) and now Eight Belles. :cry: :cry:

This sport has taken a real turn for the worse. Maybe it needs to be stopped. Or rethought considerably. :shrug:

im confused?
is an ankle break that serious on a horse ?

two breaks are insurmountable. Add to that a dirty compound fracture (dirt in the break).

Sorry to tell you that.

RL in OR

Sad.

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is seeking the suspension of Eight Belles' jockey after the filly had to be euthanized following her second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday...

PETA faxed a letter Sunday to Kentucky's racing authority claiming the filly was "doubtlessly injured before the finish" and asked that Saez be suspended while Eight Belles' death is investigated.

"What we really want to know, did he feel anything along the way?" PETA spokeswoman Kathy Guillermo said. "If he didn't then we can probably blame the fact that they're allowed to whip the horses mercilessly."

Eight Belles trainer Larry Jones said the filly was clearly happy when she crossed the finish line.
...

Guillermo said if Saez is found at fault, the group wants the second-place prize of $400,000 won by Eight Belles to be revoked.

Saez, a 20-year-old Panama native, was riding in his first Kentucky Derby. He frequently rides for Jones.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/more/05/04/bc.rac.peta.eightbelles.ap/index.html?cnn=yes




No more, no more.

Stop 3-yr olds racing.

Remember how long it took for them to get put back in their pen last time?