Kentucky Derby

[HorseFeathers]

Poor Eight Belles, I slept over at a friends and we were cheering for her... then we made pizza and we shaped it like a bell with an 8 made out of tomatoes.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi

That was a sad turn, indeed sad.

I think the 'way' horse racing is set up with 2 and 3 year-olds running is wrong, just wrong.

Nobody, unless they are in it for the glory (but that is the WAY) --- saddles, trains, & and races a 2 year-old colt/filly --- it's certainly not in the animals best interest.

Heaven forbid, you should hold the horse til it is more developed at 4, before you 'start its racing career'.
It's not fair or right to the horses, regardless of the care given the at any time,

The practice of 'racing' very young horses gives unrealistic expectations and the potential for situations like yesterday with Belle.
So sad.

Lisa

 

[chicknmania]

They interviewed Ron Turcotte (Secretariat's jockey) re his feelings about the incident Saturday. And, you know, what he said is true. He said "these horses are bred to run and they love running". I know this is true. People criticize any sport involving horses. I have been around horses all my life and I can say from personal experience that they do love running, racing, jumping, pulling, barrel racing, pole bending, whatever. They are not forced to do these things. If they were, they wouldn't do as well. I have seen a horse turned loose with no tack on at all, in a paddock full of jumps,
running around and jumping them, just for the sheer fun of it. And when we are on the trails and start cantering, my horse will pull my arms out, trying to be in front and go faster, faster. Turcotte said "horses are bred to work as a draft horse or to jump or to run as fast as they can. It's been like that thoughout my life and many hundreds of years before that . There's a purpose for them. You care about them, but humans have heart attacks and accidents and die, too. Things just happen." He went on to say you couldn't really blame her accident on anything, that it was just an accident. I've seen lots of accidents too..jumping accidents, cross country accidents, even draft horses fall in pulling competitions. That is the relationship that people have with horses. It does seem that there are a lot more tragic accidents in racing, but, then again, those are the highest profile, like someone else pointed out. I'm not sure there's an answer, or that the racing industry should be attacked; the Derby is something that unifies the Nation every year, and there's not a whole lot of other sporting events, except maybe the Olympics, that can say that.

 

[spatcher]

If you havent seen the latest news this morning, PETA wants the Jockey suspended!!! I agree with them on some things ie, dog fighting, cock fighting etc, but cmon, they must have better things to do that flash their name around over something like this!

 

[CarriBrown]

You're right, chicknmania... If a horse does what he wants to do, he will love his job. If I turn my big guy out with cattle, he will chase them. That's what he loves. And I have seen horses go jump fences because they love it. It's up to the person to KNOW what the horse is naturally able to do, and what the horse has in his heart.

 

[Cara]

Quote:
I completely agree. My SAR dog loves her job, and always gives her all, but am I going to let her work all day in 100F heat? No! Animals that work for us deserve respect, not pushing until they can't give anymore.

 

[Hotwings]

I have been a horse racing lover since I was a kid back in 1967! I have watched every Derby since then and have been to the Kentucky Derby 3 times. I am sorry to say I haven't watched much of the prep races this year. I got really involved again last year with Curlin. I read in the paper that Eight Belles broke down after the race. I was at a friends house and didn't watch, but I recorded it on my vcr, but hadn't watched it till I heard in the paper the next day. I am truly sad to see the filly broke down. It is my opinion that we are breeding these horses wrong and I don't think the track conditions have anything to do with this. I have watched plenty of races ie on tv and I have seen more and more breakdowns recently. The racing business has always been get these horses on the track and retire them as soon as possible. Todays horses are retired at 3 as compared to 4 or 5 in years past. This is due to the high stakes being paid out. Top horses are being retired at 3 may or may not been shown their true racing material. At 3 this horse has not shown if he can compete against older horses. The racing industry is hurting greatly due to the fact of casino gambling and the lack of a superstar. I am sad to say you will probably never see the likes of a great superstar like Secretariat. Money in the industry in not made on the track but in the stud shed. Get these horses to the track as soon as possible, race them lightly, get them to win the big ones and retire as soon as possible and rake in the stud fees. If I had my way I wouldn't race a horse till 3. Owners are not letting the great horses race longer for fear they might be injured or start losing-therefore decreasing their stud fees.

 

[chicknmania]

Well, as I was saying, I don't think it's fair to attack the racing industry as a whole. And to suspend the jockey???? That's just ridiculous. I do agree the horses should be older, some studies should be made about the breeding, and they should be allowed to run longer. It would be fun to have a truly great racehorse again like Man O' War or some ot the others. The track surface, good or bad, is part of the game and the challenge; to be fair it really does need to be natural surface; horses like to run in different conditions. I heard on a radio talk show this morning (now, I had to turn this off because it was so ridiculous, so didn't hear the whole conversation); some idiot who actually said she had horses was implying that it was a set up and that they killed Eight Belles because she didn't come in first. That is going too far!!!

 

[greentree]

It is time for the Jockey Club to open their books to infuse some new blood to the breed. Can you imagine how fragile our chickens would be if we were not allowed by a registry to outcross them at some point?

Nancy

 

[ChicknThief]

I did hear about this. It is simply aweful! The poor baby.