Eight Belles, Kentucky Derby Horse, Dies On Track

***SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO OF THE NBC COVERAGE FROM THE MINUTES OF THE CONFUSION AND THEN THE ANNOUNCEMENT***

AP reports:

Big Brown backed up his trainer's boasts with an explosive finishing kick and won the Kentucky Derby on Saturday - a day marred by the fatal breakdown of the filly Eight Belles.

The cheers for the winner's decisive victory were cut short when Eight Belles, the runner-up, was euthanized on the track minutes after the race when she collapsed with two broken front ankles.

Hillary Clinton last week put her money on Eight Belles to win the race:

"I hope that everybody will go to the derby on Saturday and place just a little money on the filly for me," Sen. Clinton told supporters in Jeffersonville, Ind., ABC News reports. "I won't be able to be there this year - my daughter is going to be there and so she has strict instructions to bet on Eight Belles."

Eight Belles actually ended up finishing second in the race, just behind Big Brown. But in a shocking and tragic development, just as Eight Belles crossed the finish line, jockey Gabriel Saez "heard the worst sound possible - a pop."

Saez said the filly did not take a bad step, but he heard the pop and tried to pull her up.

"I tried to get her to stop," he said. "I tried to get her to stop, but she wouldn't stop."

Dr. Larry Bramlege the on-call veterinarian from the American Association of Equine Practitioners said on NBC that the the horse broke both front ankles. She was euthanized on the track.

Here is the NBC coverage as the confusion of Eight Belles down gave way to the announcement she's been put down:

The rest of the AP article is below:

The unbeaten Big Brown took charge when the 20-horse field turned for home. Under the urging of jockey Kent Desormeaux, Big Brown cruised to a 4 3/4-length victory to become the seventh unbeaten Derby winner with his fourth consecutive win. The last one was Barbaro in 2006.

Eight Belles was attempting to become the fourth filly to win the Derby. However, as the horses galloped out around the first turn, the filly fell to the ground and jockey Gabriel Saez jumped off.

An equine ambulance came onto the track, but the filly could not be saved, said Dr. Larry Bramlage, the Derby's on-call veterinarian.

"When we passed the wire I stood up. She started galloping funny. I tried to pull her up. That's when she went down," a distraught Saez said.

Comments

[TraitorRick]

The only thing more pathetic than the spin the horse industry is putting on this is that fact that the mainstream media is playing along with it. Most horse racing columnists are long time handicappers themselves and were hired as columnists because of their knowledge of the sport. They have no interest in reporting the dark side.
The excuse I've heard most often is that "horses love to run"... Yeah, no kidding, many animals do. It's also true that humans love to make money, the more the better, and the sooner, the better.
Maybe they'll kill a few more on national TV, it's the best commercial this "sport" could ever have.

[Dominicr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leesmh9mZOU

was the horse on steroids?

[MJD615]

Eight Belles Tragedy Reminds Me of Similar Tragedy with Filly Ruffian.

For those of you who remember the ill-fated match race in 1975 between the great filly Ruffian and Foolish Pleasure, there is an eerie similarity between Eight belles and Ruffian. They looked alike and they were both approximately 17 hands tall. Neither one had ever been defeated in races against other fillies. But, most of all, they both broke down extending themselves to win against colts. Both jockeys said they "wouldn't stop running." I saw both races. The saddest things I ever witnessed!

[Daniel8168]

So, it's a crime for Michael Vick to fight dogs against each other for money, but it's ok to get on a horse and beat them in order to force them around a track for money?

What Michael Vick did was wrong, and he's serving time for it. Why aren't people involved in horse-racing being prosecuted?

I've read that it was humane to kill Eight Belles because her injuries would likely never heal properly, and she ran a great risk of infection. (yes, KILL. Let's not play with comforting words like "euthanize") The problem I have with the whole situation however is that horses usually need to be killed when they suffer an injury like that, and horse racing is an unnecessary abuse of these animals that risks injuring them in such ways. What is humane about beating an animal to make it run around a track and win a bunch of money for its owners?

Here's my proposal. If people want horse-racing to continue to be legal, then to become an owner of one of these race horses, people should have to have an angry bobcat strapped to their back while they run around a track before each race in which their horse will run. If anyone suffers any injuries that might reduce the quality of their life - just euthanize them on the track.

Horse racing should be as illegal as dog-fighting, and prosecuted as aggressively.

[hoopesaz]

Um, because Michael Vick was being cruel in inhumane to the animals. There is no such evidence of either here.

[preatorius]

That is a shame. This horse waskilled, and MSNBC seems not to care.

[Elis]

Not many comments anywhere about the jockeys. What if the filly had gone down in the stretch, with 18 other horses behind her? Running at 40mph or more, I doubt few of them would have been able to react fast enough to avoid her. How many more would have gone down? How many jockeys would have been injured, crippled, or killed?
Jockeys get no health insurance or benefits from tracks. They are regarded by the govt as self employed, independant contractors. There are a lot of them, who have no other skills, are too small for a lot of other work, or who are on disability due to injuries, and living in poverty.

[Daniel8168]

Not many comments about the jockeys because they make a choice to do this. The horses have no choice.

[suigeneris]

Regardless, the jockeys chose to be there. The horses didn't.

[RfilmTV]

Can we admit the obvious IRONY and potential prophecy the parallels between Clinton and her tragic horse pick Eight Belles.

First to put in all in context:

The term "Eight bells" can also be a way of saying that a sailor's watch is over, for instance, in his or her obituary.

(It's a nautical euphemism for "finished", Mrs. Clinton -- nice pick)

Why is Hillary parallel to filly Eight Belles?

1) Hillary will stop at NOTHING even if it hurts herself and her party and she is not fit to go the much longer track of this particular race.

2) They both are fillies running against a powerful herd of massive colts. Crossing the finish line is not the only goal here. Surviving is another.

3) Hillary wanted everyone to bet for Eight Belles to win simply because she was female -- and everyone who trusted her lost.

4) The jockey tried to stop Eight Belles but she refused -- she kept running and running... until he heard a sickening “pop” and it was over.

5) The filly was fatally crippled, so they euthanized her. Will this happen to America?

6) Will all fillies will have a hard time running in the “big race” hereafter?

7) Was it the new “artificial turf” that killed Belle?

Our new "world turf" takes brute strength, respect and longevity.

I bet on the sure thing Big Brown and won.

I'm betting on Obama because I do not want an old spooked war horse like

[wilhelmR]

To the cruelty "human beings" have against other "human beings" we must add the cruelty of "human beings" to "others." Nature is implacable but human nature is very cruel.

[rjcrane]

In case most of you aren't aware all of the horses in this Kentucky Derby field had the DNA of Northern Dancer. Eight Belles was one of the more inbred Native Dancer horses in the field having several grandparents of this lineage. While the Northern Dancer DNA has been good for winning races, it also carries a very high risk of leg and foot injuries. Barbaro being another Native Dancer horse that had to be destroyed last year after injuring his leg in the Preakness. The problem with horse racing is that big money has upped the average sales prices of horses at Keeneland to over $100,000 each thus putting more pressures on buyers wanting a more guaranteed return on their investment and thus reducing the studs being used for breeding to a select few that produce more winners. So there is a serious genetic problem in these horses being created by too small a gene pool from inbreeding and only breeding to a few big time studs, which in most cases are horses already carrying a gene for leg problems.

The other major problem is that these horses are put on the track too early in life. The horses wouldn't break down as often if they started to race as four or five year olds instead of three year olds.

The best thing we all could do is boycott this business until they clean up their act.

RJ Crane, topplebush.com

[Elis]

I agree with you. It seems that so long as a sire or dam was fast, they get bred. Doesn't matter if they also have proven a tendency to pass on weak joints, breathing problems, eye problems, whatever. If horses were dogs, the AKC would tell any reputable breeder to spay/neuter these animals, for fear of passing on genetic conditions.

A friend who's into horseracing, told me, that in Europe and the UK, they don't race or train young horses the way they do here. They enter them in shorter races, with smaller fields, and take longer between races. Only when they are 4 or 5, do European and British horses get pushed the way 2 and 3 year olds do in the US. Also, in Europe, fillies and mares race against the boys, quite often, and also beat them quite convincingly. Horses don't break down as they do here, and once retired, live longer. My friend puts these last two, to simply taking it easy on them, when they're young.

I say....start a controlled introduction of other breeds into the thoroughbred line. Introduce more Arab, Trakhener, and other hotbloods into the mix. What the hay, find some healthy, speedy mustangs (in my experiance, mustangs are often both, as well as full of stamina, and extraordinarily healthy) and let them breed to thoroughbreds. Thoroughbreds now, are so hopelessly inbred, that along with the good traits of speed, muscle, stamina, all the bad genes also surface.

[englishprof]

This whole thing reveals the Kentucky Derby to be what it is: a highly glorified cock fight, in which magnificent beasts are used to provide one more plaything (in addition to their corporate jets, second and third homes on the Mediterranean or Gstaad, yachts, and so forth) for the super rich and their egos. If justice really prevailed (as it won't), the Belmont Stakes and the Preakness, as well as the Derby, should be permanently ended. The blood lust for competitive sports is not so bad when human beings are the only participants. What the Barry Bondses of the world may or may not do to themselves to enhance their performance is something they do in full knowledge; they are sentient beings. But it is cruel beyond belief to do this kind of thing to beasts like Barbaro and Eight Belles. The mint-julip-besotted set, with their fancy hats and expensive lawn parties, doesn't really need one more rendition of "My Old Kentucky Home." They can find plenty of other entertainments.

[dragonfur]

Works great! Nice to have a place to vent--and to comment on others' vents! Thanks!!

[nerakami]

Wasn't this the horse, Hillary told folks to bet on ???? Premonition of things to come ???

May Eight Belles & Hillary's campaign both rest in peace....

[RedEyes]

Yes, horse racing is SO barbaric. Don't believe me? Watch "Seabiscuit" and "Dreamer". It's absolutely sick that Hollywood makes their blood money off of movies like this. Just 2 more examples of filth our children don't need to be exposed to.

[hoopesaz]

Of the "filth" that Hollywood produces, your examples don't even register.

[Sctt859]

experts who were watching the horse and treating her found nothing wrong with her no signs of problems or anything and she was more energetic then most horses out there. Hmm wonder what could have been the only problem... hmm..

[Pookie2112]

Shades of Barbaro ... Eight Belle's, you were quite the lady!

[ErnestineBass]

I just learned that Eight Belles and Barbaro came from the same bloodline. Perhaps they need to add a little large boned Clydesdale DNA into the mix.

[MyOwnPerson]

Unfortunately, wouldn't make a good running horse for years, possibly never.