Derby Predictions
- Thread starter Bannon88
- Start date
Your betting on the wrong horse! Gayego, for the win.
Did I hear wager? oh I forgot that may be inappropiate here.
Manny
2000 DII
Did I hear wager? oh I forgot that may be inappropiate here.
Manny
2000 DII
Last edited:
Big Brown......
Dominate performance, that horse is for real.
Too bad for Eight Belles, always sad to see one go down, she ran her ass off.
Dominate performance, that horse is for real.
Too bad for Eight Belles, always sad to see one go down, she ran her ass off.
I had counted Big Brown out, due to quarter cracks. I'll bet his owner is not only happy with the trainer, and rider, but also with the Farrier who applied those pads. Good call BOVW
Manny
2000 DII
Manny
2000 DII
I'm sure that this is a stupid question(I didn't bother to search), but why did they have to put 'Eight Belles' down? Is it because she would never be able to walk again?
In case you didn't notice, I don't know shit about horse racing
In case you didn't notice, I don't know shit about horse racing
lynchee said:
First off the horse was a filly and they rarely make it to this level of racing. They are a smaller horse compared to the larger and stronger colts on the track. For her to to finish second was quite an accomplishment.
Secondly all the horses that run in the Kentucky Derby are young and still growing, thus more susceptible to fractures. I believe they are all three year olds.
Breaking both ankles like that is a pretty severe injury and not one likely to ever overcome at any cost. Regardless it's a pretty horrible thing to witness in person.
It is too bad for Big Brown that Eight Belles suffered her terrible tragedy. I have had horses my entire life and there is nothing sadder than having to put one down. The race officials seemed to handle the situation well, by obscuring the mare with two equine ambulances. It is part of thorougbred racing that these sorts of things happen.
Our horses (warmbloods) are not started until much later in life, I look at the physical development of these racing two and three year olds and I have never had a horse that young look like that. I mean a 17h two year old is a scary thing. There growth plates do not stop growing untill they are four or five years old.
Many, many thoroughbreds break down well before they ever hit their first race, it is very common for horses off the track to have splints, bowed tendons, or they have been pin fired or patched up in some way. It is nothing new, it has always been that way. Ex-track horses provide many other people with a good supply of horse flesh for hunter, jumpers and three-day.
The KY Derby is the oldest sporting event in the US, they are not going to change it now and race older horses because it is better for the animals, what it does do though is increase ones appreciation for the fillys like Ruffian.
Our horses (warmbloods) are not started until much later in life, I look at the physical development of these racing two and three year olds and I have never had a horse that young look like that. I mean a 17h two year old is a scary thing. There growth plates do not stop growing untill they are four or five years old.
Many, many thoroughbreds break down well before they ever hit their first race, it is very common for horses off the track to have splints, bowed tendons, or they have been pin fired or patched up in some way. It is nothing new, it has always been that way. Ex-track horses provide many other people with a good supply of horse flesh for hunter, jumpers and three-day.
The KY Derby is the oldest sporting event in the US, they are not going to change it now and race older horses because it is better for the animals, what it does do though is increase ones appreciation for the fillys like Ruffian.
landrovered said:
Well said.
I'd love a warmblood around here to help balance all the TBs running around. I'd be happy with a draft/TB cross. Big, athletic and mild tempered. That's ideal to me.
It's been a rough year in the eventing circuit. Lots of severe crashes with both horse and rider being killed and/or close to it. This was just in prelims.
I've only had to witness one of our own put down. It was rather sickening. I couldn't imagine having to do it on national TV or at an actual show/event.
I'm actually suprised PETA has not gotten involved.
I started out eventing in the 70's when it was a small community of really good folks. Before the pre-amoeba stuff was around. We used to camp out by the stalls and everyone would share stories and help each other. It is very different today. I hate the TV coverge that eventing gets, they only show the crashes. It doesn't do the sport justice. I have a hanoverian and my wife has a cleveland bay. After trying to do dressage on TBs unsuccesfully for years I finally saw the light. I have been a warmblood fan for the last 20 years. I had to put my Prix St. George gelding down this year. I had him for 17 years. He was getting old and colic got him due to a growth around his stomach, the vet said it was common in older horses and inoperable. I would have rather have watched my 110 go in the crusher than do that but it was the right thing to do. If you have a TB mare I can recommend a good Cleveland Stallion that would give you a fantastic colt or filly for eventing, driving, hunting and jumping. My wifes mare is a 3/4 cleveland and she is the best looking horse I have seen in a long time.
I took an equine biomechanics class this semester that was devoted to equine locomotion in performance horses, and we were drilled that epiphyseal plates close by 24 months. Since plates close starting at the navicular (P1) and work their way from distal-proximal, they would have been closed even earlier (she broke her canon bone, P3, and her sesamoid process). I'm not a vet or anything (hopefully one day), but that is what we were taught.
I'm not an expert and haven't really read on what the Vet thinks happened, but I would guess that she was heated up after the race and then the way she stopped so abruptly caused her grabs (steel plates on the toe of the shoes for traction) caught into the ground the right way to cause the fractures. A lot of weight is situated on the front legs (like 2/3 of the rider and 2/3 of the horse). She wasn't a reining horse and her shoes weren't meant for her to stop like that.
They put her down because no horse would recover from that type of injury. Last year barbaro suffered 20+ fractures in just one lower leg. He abscessed in one hind and then foundered in one of his healthy hinds. If they would have done surgery, there would have been other complications in her healthy legs because she would not have been able to put weight on those legs.
My sister and her boyfriend sat on turn 1 and said they had it covered up pretty well. My parents were sitting up in the jockey suites and said on the TVs up there local stations had it all on TV.
my two cents...
I'm not an expert and haven't really read on what the Vet thinks happened, but I would guess that she was heated up after the race and then the way she stopped so abruptly caused her grabs (steel plates on the toe of the shoes for traction) caught into the ground the right way to cause the fractures. A lot of weight is situated on the front legs (like 2/3 of the rider and 2/3 of the horse). She wasn't a reining horse and her shoes weren't meant for her to stop like that.
They put her down because no horse would recover from that type of injury. Last year barbaro suffered 20+ fractures in just one lower leg. He abscessed in one hind and then foundered in one of his healthy hinds. If they would have done surgery, there would have been other complications in her healthy legs because she would not have been able to put weight on those legs.
My sister and her boyfriend sat on turn 1 and said they had it covered up pretty well. My parents were sitting up in the jockey suites and said on the TVs up there local stations had it all on TV.
my two cents...
landrovered said:
Well right now we are full up as our paddock can't really hold any more horses. We're pretty strict about not over grazing unlike everyone else around here. Never letting the grass recover, so it never has a chance to fill out nicely. We actually just put up a temporary paddock until things get situated with the newcomers.
I was checking out some of the draft rescues as I am a big fan of Belgians. I'm originally from Central PA and it's a huge area for them along with Percherons. But a Belgian or Belgian cross is my next horse I think.
Something good for trails around here and big. We have 500 acres of conserved land that surrounds us that is only used for trail riding, pacers race and fox hunting. Actually owned by a rather well know trainer "Chips". My TB spooks pretty good on the tight trails by himself with all the deer we have. They stand right along the trails and they get within 10 feet. That is enough to make him spin and run the other way. A very sweet gelding, very healthy and great looking with relatively good ground manners, but unless someone is riding point, he's a bit anxious.
Not sure if either of you follow Rolex, but this year was tragic once again. My GF was down there for the entire event. I'm assuming NBC will have the condensed version again on TV.
A photographer friend of mine went to Montreal Olympics and was watching the cross country, there was a rider who had a refusal and fall at the fence where they were watching, the riders helmet came off and rolled down the hill and a woman started screaming and running away, she thought it was the riders head. The horse and rider were fine.
Lee: Thanks for the analysis, I have never been a big fan of toe plates, I went to farrier school and practiced for several years until my back wouldn't take it any more. For eventing we used removable heel calks but we were careful to take them out in all but the muddiest conditions. What is the saying, it is not the fall that kills you it is the sudden stopping. I guess the filly planted her front legs and the shock of the weight snapped her cannons, ouch. The siesmoids alone would have been debilitating and painful to overcome.
Lee: Thanks for the analysis, I have never been a big fan of toe plates, I went to farrier school and practiced for several years until my back wouldn't take it any more. For eventing we used removable heel calks but we were careful to take them out in all but the muddiest conditions. What is the saying, it is not the fall that kills you it is the sudden stopping. I guess the filly planted her front legs and the shock of the weight snapped her cannons, ouch. The siesmoids alone would have been debilitating and painful to overcome.
I've always been a fan of every horse sport, and I've got some good friends with connections in the racing world...as much as I love it, I also hate it.
Running these colts and fillies at 2-3 years old is the main reason why they break down. Horses don't finish growing and maturing until they are at least 5 years old. I had a barn-mate once that jumped her Appy over and over at a young age and he developed severe navicular problems and has been lame almost ever since. There are direct correlations to be found between work level and age. Race horses are babied and well cared for, but they are also commodities that can be easily cast off.
The TB I leased in high school was an ex-race horse. He suffered a bowed tendon and was pulled from the track before moving on as a hunter. That is a manageable injury and he is still happily working as the huntmasters horse for our local club. Fractures, double fractures and severe bone breaks rarely heal in these breeds. Take a look at their bones...they have always been a fine-boned breed but are even more so today. 17hh at 2-3 years old is amazing and frightening at the same time. Many breeds are being bred for finer bone structure--take the Morgan for example. Mine is one of the "old school type" he's heavy boned and very solid for his size (at 15.1h he's actually a tall Morgan). The "new" Morgans are built much more like an Arab with very fine legs.
It was an exciting day and also a sad one. I had chosen Colonel John in a quick decision before reading about the lone filly in the race. As we watched I was pulling for her to make history... but certainly not at the cost of her life! So very sad.
Running these colts and fillies at 2-3 years old is the main reason why they break down. Horses don't finish growing and maturing until they are at least 5 years old. I had a barn-mate once that jumped her Appy over and over at a young age and he developed severe navicular problems and has been lame almost ever since. There are direct correlations to be found between work level and age. Race horses are babied and well cared for, but they are also commodities that can be easily cast off.
The TB I leased in high school was an ex-race horse. He suffered a bowed tendon and was pulled from the track before moving on as a hunter. That is a manageable injury and he is still happily working as the huntmasters horse for our local club. Fractures, double fractures and severe bone breaks rarely heal in these breeds. Take a look at their bones...they have always been a fine-boned breed but are even more so today. 17hh at 2-3 years old is amazing and frightening at the same time. Many breeds are being bred for finer bone structure--take the Morgan for example. Mine is one of the "old school type" he's heavy boned and very solid for his size (at 15.1h he's actually a tall Morgan). The "new" Morgans are built much more like an Arab with very fine legs.
It was an exciting day and also a sad one. I had chosen Colonel John in a quick decision before reading about the lone filly in the race. As we watched I was pulling for her to make history... but certainly not at the cost of her life! So very sad.
She did have elastic bandages on during the race, when they showed all of the gruesome photos today I first mistook the red stripes on her bandages for compound fractures but was relieved to see that they were just red stripes.
There have been no wraps proven to prevent or heal a tendon or bone injury other than protecting in the case of knocking knees or striking themselves. I still think that horses today are just not as strong as they used to be. Horses today are being bred to run fast and their physical durability has just almost been taken out of the equation. Also, the training styles today are so different, horses are being run harder for shorter periods of time and at a younger age. There are just so many factors that could have caused her injury that I don't think it could really be traced back to one thing.
there was a special on espn a little earlier that was pretty interesting talking about this stuff.
there was a special on espn a little earlier that was pretty interesting talking about this stuff.