I put this suggested change up the week before last and it was ignored. Its going up again. The schedule of the Triple Crown races needs to be changed, and changed soon.
Today\'s events were not good and will continue if 3YO horses are asked to race on schedules they are no longer built for. No one can predict a breakdown but soreness, imflamation can cause an athlete to compromise his action. With humans it usually ends up somewhere in the back.
Horses who are asked to compete on the schedule the Triple Crown requires are lucky if they make it to Labor Day. For Barbaro sun-up might be a stretch.
How many more is it going to take.........
Silver Charm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I put this suggested change up the week before
> last and it was ignored. Its going up again. The
> schedule of the Triple Crown races needs to be
> changed, and changed soon.
>
> Today\'s events were not good and will continue if
> 3YO horses are asked to race on schedules they are
> no longer built for. No one can predict a
> breakdown but soreness, imflamation can cause an
> athlete to compromise his action. With humans it
> usually ends up somewhere in the back.
>
> Horses who are asked to compete on the schedule
> the Triple Crown requires are lucky if they make
> it to Labor Day. For Barbaro sun-up might be a
> stretch.
>
> How many more is it going to take.........
>
>
When a horse is bred for pure speed with a pedigree full of breakdown lineage trying to protect the breed or the game by shortening the races and spacing the events will only inure to continuing to breed short distance, infirm horses. Barbaro had a very disconcerting hunk of Carson City broodmare sire and that may have done him in.
Besides, I want to have the knowledge which horses can stand up to short spacing better than others. I don\'t want that playing field equaled by spacing them so every race is a first back.
Lets not get all worked up because an underlayed 1-2 got worked up and broke down. Matz is still a hero and a darn good trainer. The industry will note to bring its weak bred animals to him.
Beer Time, check back in around midnight.
\"Lets not get all worked up because an underlayed 1-2 got worked up and broke down\"
you make me sick chuckles.
CTC-- I have to say, pathetic need for attention notwithstanding, nobody could make you look worse than you make yourself look.
NBC stayed with poor Barbaro too long.Not good for anyone especially the casual observers who were sicker than me.
Mike
Chuckles,
They changed the spacing of the Preps, ie--Wood, Ark Derby, Blue Grass why not the Triple Crown races they are pointing for.
The owners of Barbaro were running for three things today and three things alone: 1) Tradition 2.) A $600K winners purse 3.) And no Triple Crown bonus.
Somehow risking a $30 Million dollar asset doesn\'t seem worth.
Don\'t know if I ever told this story here before or not...
Back in 90 (?) my brother needed a heart transplant, and was lying in a hospital waiting for \"next available heart\". They had him wired so the nurse\'s station could monitor what was going on with him from there. Anyway, he turns on the BC telecast, and Go For Wand goes down. The nurses were in the room with sedatives within 30 seconds-- that\'s how much the needle jumped on the meter.
To anticipate the next question, he\'s fine. Bikes all over the place, won a golf tourney for heart transplantees (!).
Meanwhile, in the black humor department, what\'s the over/under on how many drinks Bill Nader (head of marketing at NYRA) has had in the last hour? They\'re not only going to lose those that come for the TC-- they\'re going to lose all but the hardcore fans for this Belmont.
Bad day for the game.
Hate to respond to my own post, but I will put this out there for any and all savvy handicappers.
Based on the above risk/reward would any of us make that bet.
Only a bridge-jumper could say yes. I turned my $30M into $40M. Look how smart I am.
No look how stupid you are........but its Tradition.
Jerry,
You have no idea how correct you are.All top Nyra brass openly rooted all week for Barbaro to win today.Bill Nader estimated a difference of up to 50k people on Belmont Day if Barbaro wins the Preakness.
Mike
The TV COVERAGE WAS FINE UNTILL they stayed with the Horse too long a time while he was in obvious extreme distress . A bad judgement call by the network , not only was it unethical but in very poor taste as well .
If the Racing Industry and Networks don\'t want to see triple crown restructuring by now , they are really out of step and out of touch with the realities of the situation ...
Promote the rest of the card. Only Barbaro, if he won, was the only one moving on today anyway. I would have told you this last week.
Baffert and others anticiapted that when they said \"pass\". Smart move because they can win a Belmont just like Commendable did.
Tell Nader to slow it down, but be ready. Its only a matter of time before this happens to him at his place.
Jerry,
Enough is enough. This idiot is too much. Can you get rid of him somehow??
Chuckles, Get some help.
Sure SC everybody wants to win , but this is a corporate culture we live in and untill a realization that interests in racing need to be protected can take place , the status quo will continue and the racing industry party line stuff will remain - people would rather have a Triple Crown Winner .
Space the 3 races differently and possibly others leading up to and after them -Add a 4th race to the Crown series , maybe on turf at 7/8\'s whatever , but something should be done .
Baseball expanded their market share when going with additional playoff games and in essence created 4 divisions in each league ( w/ wild card div ) - Perhaps Horse racing would benifit from such an approach .
I think non-hardcore racing fans want to follow the sport with more regularity except that persistent negativity and stigma associated with racing is keeping them away by the millions ...
Some of the powers that be that are standing put in not adjusting the schedule spacing of the Triple Crown races are some of the same people who fought like hell to NOT ALLOW Full Card Simulcasting. Who fought like hell to NOT ALLOW wagers like the Trifecta, Super, etc.
Bad for the game.......now its what supports it.
If they can change the layout of Augusta National because they felt like the course was becoming too easy can\'t they change the spacing of the Triple Crown because its become too hard on the horses. And take note of the fact I said too hard on the horses. Winning the Triple Crown will not be any easier, one could argue it may become even tougher.
Jerry please change the Home Page to say \"Can Barbaro Stay Alive\" and start another clock with days, hours, and minutes until we start killing the careers of another promising group of three year olds in next years Criple Crown Races.
Instead of restructuring,why not move it back in the calendar say a month or so?
(This would help Belmont, as their big racing day would fall later in the meet).
Another problem, the 3 jewels of the crown are not equally weighted in terms of purses and prestige. A few horses each year who could be reaching a peak at Preakness time are sacrificed to Derby madness.
My personal 06 Derby madness award goes to the usually savvy John Ward, who drove Strong Contender (who looked mediocre at Belmont yesterday) up and down the interstate looking for those graded earnings. Honorable mention goes to the Lael Stable people,who probably should have held Showing Up out of the Derby and raced in the Preakness (especially since they already had a strong Derby contender).
As Jimbo and others have pointed out, there have been some Triple Crown near misses recently. Alex. Smarty. Charismatic. A difficult grind, yes; impossible, no.
Because of the emphasis breeders put on the Triple Crown races, economics dictates that almost any colt who wins even ONE of these races has little else to prove and will NOT race as a 4YO.
A very tough thing to watch yesterday, especially since (a) Barbaro looked so good training up to the race and (b) there was relatively little attrition among the ranks of 3YOs between the BC Juvenile and yesterday.
Drugs? A huge issue in racing (and it looks like the harness guys are starting to get it) but IMO not an issue in Barbaro\'s breakdown.
Should Barbaro have been scratched or at least examined after he broke through the gate? Of the track vet, the starter and the jock, if anything was amiss, I would say it is something that Prado would have known before anyone else.
It\'s not likely Barbaro\'s condylar fracture was caused by a bad step, but that it caused a bad step itself, which resulted in his secondary fracture below the ankle.
The condylar bone fractures following a process of reforming and flattening in the ankle socket, so to speak, and the process takes place through the heavy pounding of training and racing. This occurs before bones harden to the point that they are fully formed (ie: to young horses for the most part.)
The soft tissue that protects the bone and the ankle wears away prematurely and bone hits bone. A significant period of rest and maturing can save the bones and the horse, but a horse caught up in the Triple Crown is more likely to be encouraged to go on because of the money involved.
Think back to Tale of the Cat, who some vets consider the poster boy of a horse who benefitted from being taken off the track when his condylar issue became apparent. He went on to a very nice career.
The point of this is that a horse with a condylar problem can\'t hide it. He or she goes gimpy on the sore joint. What is done about the problem is the key. Barbaro was too good and the Triple Crown is there only for 3 year olds, so they hoped to get through the series before his issues worked their way into a bad injury.
Charismatic had the same problem, but racing in California when he did, only a limited number of pain killers were permitted to be administered during his early career. During that period Kentucky was far more permissive and he became a different horse when he was legally medicated for his races there and couldn\'t feel the bone crushing on bone. The rest is history. He finally fractured the condylar in New York and gave us a preview of the Barbaro incident by a few years.
The aggravated reforming of condylar bones happens to many, many horses and many of them break down. It doesn\'t take a bad step for this to happen. If you watched the reruns of the Preakness I defy you to spot Barbaro\'s initial bad step because there wasn\'t one. He didn\'t swerve until Prado heard a loud crack and the hind end buckled.
This wasn\'t about track maintenance or racing luck. This was about covering up a serious condition in the hope that the horse would get through the worst of it. Horseracing is all about hope.
I don\'t think the call for restructuring the Triple Crown Series is predicated on the notion that it\'s impossible to sweep the TC under this format; rather it\'s based upon the notion that as structured it is taking too much out of the horses that pursue all three legs and therefore, in the long run, taking too much out of the game.
I\'m naturally a traditonalist, but I thought Jerry wrote very persuasively about this situation a few years ago. Even if the horses come out of the series seemingly healthy, the truth of the matter is, the wear and tear has made them predisposed to injury.
Tradition is very important; tradition often harbors great wisdom. But where is the wisdom in pushing a still developing animal through the rigors of the five week Triple Crown Series? And tradition without wisdom, that from another perspective is nothing but instutionalized stupidity, kind of like college hazing.
Very interesting post alm. Though do you have any objective basis upon which to believe that an issue with a condylar condition was actually known to Matz? Can you develop that point at all?
What we do know is there was very carefull handling and an unusual striding action. But you are talking Olympian, Hero, Family Man. I don\'t know for certain, but I am skeptical of Matz letting such a serious condition go. I don\'t see it in his character. Now if you were talking one of the Supertrainers, who would doubt it?
Barbaro was clearly hyped up. He was tough to handle in the post parade I am told and he popped that Gate. He didn\'t look right to me after the Gate Pop. He had an odd look. I think he injured that leg when the gate broke open by his weight shifting suddenly upon it with all the force he exerted to pop the gate. I don\'t have any evidence for it, but I\'m pretty sure thats where it happened. It was immaterial to the outcome in my opinion.
alm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It\'s not likely Barbaro\'s condylar fracture was
> caused by a bad step, but that it caused a bad
> step itself, which resulted in his secondary
> fracture below the ankle.
>
> The condylar bone fractures following a process of
> reforming and flattening in the ankle socket, so
> to speak, and the process takes place through the
> heavy pounding of training and racing. This
> occurs before bones harden to the point that they
> are fully formed (ie: to young horses for the most
> part.)
>
> The soft tissue that protects the bone and the
> ankle wears away prematurely and bone hits bone.
> A significant period of rest and maturing can save
> the bones and the horse, but a horse caught up in
> the Triple Crown is more likely to be encouraged
> to go on because of the money involved.
>
> Think back to Tale of the Cat, who some vets
> consider the poster boy of a horse who benefitted
> from being taken off the track when his condylar
> issue became apparent. He went on to a very nice
> career.
>
> The point of this is that a horse with a condylar
> problem can\'t hide it. He or she goes gimpy on
> the sore joint. What is done about the problem is
> the key. Barbaro was too good and the Triple
> Crown is there only for 3 year olds, so they hoped
> to get through the series before his issues worked
> their way into a bad injury.
>
> Charismatic had the same problem, but racing in
> California when he did, only a limited number of
> pain killers were permitted to be administered
> during his early career. During that period
> Kentucky was far more permissive and he became a
> different horse when he was legally medicated for
> his races there and couldn\'t feel the bone
> crushing on bone. The rest is history. He
> finally fractured the condylar in New York and
> gave us a preview of the Barbaro incident by a few
> years.
>
> The aggravated reforming of condylar bones happens
> to many, many horses and many of them break down.
> It doesn\'t take a bad step for this to happen. If
> you watched the reruns of the Preakness I defy you
> to spot Barbaro\'s initial bad step because there
> wasn\'t one. He didn\'t swerve until Prado heard a
> loud crack and the hind end buckled.
>
> This wasn\'t about track maintenance or racing
> luck. This was about covering up a serious
> condition in the hope that the horse would get
> through the worst of it. Horseracing is all about
> hope.
>
>
Alm,
I also saw Dr.Bramlege(sp)explain the injury but you can probably find many young horses that show similarly on x-rays but never break down. I\'m sure he was vetted and x-rayed for insurance purposes pre or post derby.Do you think Lloyds of London would insure a horse for multi millions that was \"covering up a serious condition\"? I doubt it.
Prado would know in the walk back to gate if he was \"off\' so I doubt that Barbaro showed anything in that regard pre reloading.
Mike
Simple xrays don\'t reveal condylar problems as they are under the bone, which sits in a socket at the top of the hoof.
So Barbaro\'s xrays were probably normal looking and he was very insurable.
However, the trainer knows when a horse is gimpy and it is possible to study the problem through a procedure called nuclear scintigriphy. Also, it is very expensive.
Most trainers will just tell the owner the horse is a little sore and use pain killers to keep training and racing them. It\'s done all the time, every day. It\'s part of the business.
If the horse is valuable, you can ease off them and wait until the bones harden and form normally. If the horse is a Triple Crown athlete, it\'s a tough call, because you can only enter once. I think that\'s what happened to this horse.
In fact, it\'s possible Prado was warming him up as much as he did to try to work through the gimpiness before the race. Gary Stevens commented on it and was surprised.
I\'m not trying to blame anyone. I\'m only saying it\'s a shame that such a good horse was put in the position this horse was, due to the nature of his quest. Given six months off he would have retained his quality and had a much longer career.
appreciate the response
I don\'t have knowledge in this area, but the 8 weeks off followed by 5 weeks was a red flag. In the end I concluded there was a reason for it and the 2 weeks and big effort were decisive. Chances are we will never know what the connections were privy to, especially if the horse doesnt pull through.
alm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Simple xrays don\'t reveal condylar problems as
> they are under the bone, which sits in a socket at
> the top of the hoof.
>
> So Barbaro\'s xrays were probably normal looking
> and he was very insurable.
>
> However, the trainer knows when a horse is gimpy
> and it is possible to study the problem through a
> procedure called nuclear scintigriphy. Also, it
> is very expensive.
>
> Most trainers will just tell the owner the horse
> is a little sore and use pain killers to keep
> training and racing them. It\'s done all the time,
> every day. It\'s part of the business.
>
> If the horse is valuable, you can ease off them
> and wait until the bones harden and form normally.
> If the horse is a Triple Crown athlete, it\'s a
> tough call, because you can only enter once. I
> think that\'s what happened to this horse.
>
> In fact, it\'s possible Prado was warming him up as
> much as he did to try to work through the
> gimpiness before the race. Gary Stevens commented
> on it and was surprised.
>
> I\'m not trying to blame anyone. I\'m only saying
> it\'s a shame that such a good horse was put in the
> position this horse was, due to the nature of his
> quest. Given six months off he would have
> retained his quality and had a much longer
> career.
>
>
>
>
ALM,
FYI, they do not do simple x-rays when issuing a multi million dollar insurance policy.I watched a friends horse, a $1.5 million purchase price, go through the insurance evaluation process for much less money than Barbaro was (probably) insured for. It took several hours.
Briefly, the people doing the evaluation were VERY thorough at the site and who knows what work they do off site.Your contention that this type problem slips between the insurance cracks is tough to believe,and not highly likely from what I saw.
Mike
Per Steven\'s observations, did anyone notice Prado looking constantly to Barbaro\'s right hind during the warmuup? Look at the tape!
Eddie,
I have the tape also. I think Prado looked down when Barbaro tried to buck jump. On the NBC feed Donna Barton, on patrol noted Prado warmed Barbaro up like he wanted him on his toes.
I noticed the comatose, bute starved, Brother Derek with his head down coming up the walk to the track.Solis got off ninth, Hendricks said they were sending.
Mike
Where is it set in stone that this must take place over 5 weeks?? Things EVOLVE over time; in the \"old days\" horses raced every week. The breed is bigger, stronger, faster, MORE BRITTLE; trans-continental shipping is common, the Breeder\'s Cup exist now, and that has affected wear-and tear as the best run against the best more often....time for a change, or racing may disappear in this country.
How \'bout our boy Frank S. up there on the podium yapping away \"that\'s part of horseracing\"...Ouch!
Yeah! cost me my 5-7-8 triple...cashed on Bernardini, but I HATE blood money!
Gave it to my wife.....
Miff you make an interesting observation regarding Brother Derek. The entire field with the expection of Brother Derek posed for photos in the infield. Has anyone explained his absence? I was sitting in section 7 about 8 rows up and had a rather good view. It appeared to me that Barbaro was very keyed up and the extended warm up was an attempt to get Barbaro to relax. For those of us that were there Barbaro\'s breakdown was schocking but thankfully we weren\'t subjected to countless replays. It\'s also dissappointing that we aren\'t talking about Bernardini and his wonderful performance. Lastly, Pimilco race track is a tradgey. Water was pouring down from the ceiling in the mens bathroom and yes there\'s only one mens bathroom in the grandstand. The problems with the facility are too many to mention and Magna is doing nothing to improve it. The best thing that could happen to the Preakness Stakes is being moved to another venue. Maybe Frank has his mind set on the Preakness being run at Gulfstream Park.
Alm, couldn\'t agree more with your post. Those who\'ve read my previos posts will know how long I have been high on Barbaro ( 1/1/06 ). At the Med simo, I was shocked when I first saw him on the track, and this was later verified to me when I got home and saw more of the video shot before the race. He looked to me like he was definitely in some kind of physical discomfort,and when he broke through the gate he took my breath away again, this time for the wrong reason. I think his own physical development did him in; as Bob Baffert said at the Derby. \" He\'s a man among boys \". A muscular \"man\" with the bones of a boy. It wasn\'t a mis step, the problem was in the making before the race.
Until Barbaro\'s vet, or perhaps Matz himself, speaks about what may, or may not, have been going on with this horse in his training leading up to the Preakness no one will know exactly what caused his breaking down.
He could have walked out of his stall Saturday morning, saw an empty Coke can in the shedrow, and gone ape sh*t for all we know.
Everyone can speculate all they want, right now that\'s all we have.
Take this for what it\'s worth, but two separate times during the ESPN coverage on Saturday, Jerry Bailey speculated Barbaro was not the same horse as in Kentucky. He based this on the fact Barbaro was pacing extensively in his stall in Baltimore, but in Kentucky he was like a statue, always with his head out of the stall looking around. Bailey, of course, did not try to guess what was causing this, but definitely stated something was amiss.
jmetro Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Until Barbaro\'s vet, or perhaps Matz himself,
> speaks about what may, or may not, have been going
> on with this horse in his training leading up to
> the Preakness no one will know exactly what caused
> his breaking down.
>
> He could have walked out of his stall Saturday
> morning, saw an empty Coke can in the shedrow, and
> gone ape sh*t for all we know.
>
> Everyone can speculate all they want, right now
> that\'s all we have.
>
>
>
>
richiebee,
Holding Showing Up out of the Derby was the correct move for the horse. But, i actually agree with the entry of that horse because if you dont enter him, one other horse gets into the race....if you owned barbaro too, i dont think its a good idea to take a chance to let an extra horse in the gate..what if that 21st shooter (sunriver?) gets into the race and beats you. Then, you have to live with knowing you lost a once in a lifetime shot at the Ky Derby because you didn\'t enter your other horse who was eligible.
I know the odds are slim that the horse who gets in instead of Showing UP actually beats Barbaro, but why take the shot?
Also, as well as showing up raced, he theoretically could have won. If you have a shot at winning the KyD you have to take it i believe.
>How \'bout our boy Frank S. up there on the podium yapping away \"that\'s part of horseracing\"...
For Frank it all similar to corporate contaminated waste being dumped in rivers or under the table political bribes. \"That\'s part of doing business.\"
Barbaro had been handled brilliantly with white gloves and horses are creatures of habit. Once he had been asked to wheel back in two weeks the horse had no idea what was going on. Probably had more to do with the agitation than anything else.
You mentioning the Breeders Cup and look at how it has effected the pre-race scheduling of the preps. Even the Criple Crown Preps have seen their schedules spaced out longer except for the Criple Crown itself.
Only 350 days ninteen hours nine minutes and forty two seconds until next years Criple Crown starts shorten the careers of promising 2007 three year olds.
Can\'t Wait.....
Imallin:
At the time they entered Showing Up in the Derby, I thought that their intention would be to scratch him on the morning of the race, and I posted to that effect. That strategy (a) would have excluded Sunriver, (b) would have reduced the traffic jam to 19 from 20 and (c)provided insurance against a Barbaro injury be tween Derby entry time and Derby post time.
They didn\'t want to pull a pegram and scratch when they never intended on running. I think an AE list would solve the problem of guys entering who don\'t plan on running.
Yeah, the smart thing to do would be enter and scratch.
Barbaro was insured for $24 million and he has a stud value of at least $100 million.
How do you know Barbaro was insured for 24m? Did you read that on a website somewhere?
ezgoer89 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Take this for what it\'s worth, but two separate
> times during the ESPN coverage on Saturday, Jerry
> Bailey speculated Barbaro was not the same horse
> as in Kentucky. He based this on the fact Barbaro
> was pacing extensively in his stall in Baltimore,
> but in Kentucky he was like a statue, always with
> his head out of the stall looking around. Bailey,
> of course, did not try to guess what was causing
> this, but definitely stated something was amiss.
>
Didn\'t Barbaro ship in the day of the race? Maybe they should have brought him in earlier and let him get familiar with the surroundings....hindsight and speculation.
Or skipped the Preakness and waited for the Belmont or headed to Virginia for the Bonus enhanced grass series (as Andy Beyer suggested) coming up later this mid-summer.
Next year the Derby winner should insist that PIMLICO pay for the insurance premium and the same for BELMONT if they insist on raming the same Criple Crown timeline down his throat.
Setting aside Deranged Luckas, it is still clear that the bred is losing hardiness. American dirt horses have drastically reduced their annual campaignes as have European turf horses. Good horses with humane trainers are still breaking down too often.
IMHO, perhaps a major part of the equation is to improve the strength and stamina of the bred by banning all race day medications. Only horses that run fast AND CLEAN should to to the breeding shed. Owners won\'t like having fast horses that they can\'t race because \"the just need a little help from their friends,\" but it is a price that needs to be paid. This way, we get brillance and endurance.
Maybe as a compromise, claiming races could allow medications, but Maiden, Allowance and Stakes races would be clean.
As a collateral benefit to strengthen the breed, we could increase weight imposts for humane treatment of jockeys.
Don\'t get me wrong, perhaps better spacing of our Classics (one spring, one summer, one fall?) and polytracks or deeper tracks, more grass racing, etc, are good moves too. But the bottomline is that Thoroughbred racing is about improving the breed. As is, we have sacrificed all for brilliance, which results in tragedy all to often. Time to change.
jmetro Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Didn\'t Barbaro ship in the day of the race? Maybe
> they should have brought him in earlier and let
> him get familiar with the
> surroundings....hindsight and speculation.
No, I believe he shipped on Friday. SNS shipped on Sat. morning from Laurel.
First let me say that any day that any horse breaks down at any track is a bad day for racing and leaves me with an empty feeling whether I\'ve won or lost (particularly when I am there to witness it in person). But I\'m also keenly aware of the fact that if it weren\'t for the crazy owners and trainers that insist on running short-priced favorites on short rest coming off significant tops, there would not be very many really good betting opportunities out there. If you are really concerned about all horses, then why not just make a rule that any horse that runs within let\'s say 6 Beyer points of his top or better, has to wait 4 weeks before it can race again. This would save many more horse lives than just restructuring the TC races.
I believe that after the Derby, there should be a racing rule that all horses have to have an independent vet x ray them, mri them and check them out from head to toe and if they don\'t pass a stringent physical exam, they are not allowed to race for a month or more.
\"I believe that after the Derby, there should be a racing rule that all horses have to have an independent vet x ray them, mri them and check them out from head to toe and if they don\'t pass a stringent physical exam, they are not allowed to race for a month or more.\"
Imallin,
Why not after every race,even $4k claimers at Penn National?
Mike
In most jurisdictions, every horse entered is checked on race day by the track vetinarian, who also administers any medications. bbb
Bell,
Check out the overall comments of the Maryland Chief State Vet re Barbaro early morning and during the Preakness warmup, he speaks of an aggressive horse striding out.Also of interest is the comments of the surgeon Dr. Richardson ...\"We had this joint completely open and in this particular horses case,I could see no damage of any preexisting injury\"
Prior to that he states \"that frequently that fracture does have some prexisting damage\" but he didn\'t see it here.
The preexisting injury theory or stress from prior big negative theory is not what they THINK happened.We\'ll never know for sure.
Mike
Just some inside industry information. Know someone that is well connected into the Lexington breeding scene.
Typically insurance on a stake horse would create a premium of some 18 percent payable up front. That would mean a payment of some 4 million. I find it unlikely. He is probably insured for less than he is worth. Jerry would know more. BBB
Silver Charm with all due respect I can\'t disagree more. I travel every year from Long Island to Baltimore for the Black Eyed Susan/Pimlico Special Card and Preakness Day at Pimlico. In the 10 years I have gone it is amazing what a dump the place was and has become. ON Black Eyed Susan day they get a decent crowd but think of the numbers on Preakness day. Admission to the infield was $55 and 80% of that 118,000 crowd was on the infield. The other people paid between $20 and $155 for tickets to the grandstand. This is what keeps Pimlico in business. I would think it would take an act of God for Pimlico to change the date and mess with the cash cow that is the Preakness. Barbaro\'s injury is tragic but the Derby winner usually fares well in Baltimore and this small world that we horseplayers live in wherein we understand that running in the Triple Crown series leads to these horses never being the same again but to the suits at Pimlico I doubt they care much. I think your heart is in the right place but that is not what rules the business world. Good luck on the Belmont E
Can\'t you just see Stronach getting control of N.Y. and moving the Freakness and belmont forward 2 weeks.
The man would champion his purchase with a cause that would stop the pain and agony for both man and beast.
NY Times reports that insurance on Barbaro was increased twice - after the Florida Derby and after the Kentucky Derby. No word on the total dollar value, nor any of the increments.
Miff,
In a perfect world, sure, every horse would have this type of exam. Its just not economically feasable. The 4k claimers at Penn National have to run to put on the show, the show must go on. If you did an mri on every horse on a particular card at a low rung track, you\'d see a lot of christmas tree lights on those exams.
My point about the Derby is that this is a race, and the impending preakness 2 weeks away, where all sense and logic go out the window. This Derby is a race where not one trainer is going to care if his horse is lame, he\'s going to enter the race for his own training career. Look at that 20 horse with mike smith, that bull horse, (forget his name). Anyway, he was owned by a syndicate, west point i think...they just want to get in the gate so their syndicate can say, \"we get owners to the Ky Derby\". If that horse had the earnings and was broken down, he\'s STILL going to be entered and run. He\'ll be covered up with heavy meds and put out there.
Personally, any trainer (hendricks, etc) who run a LOSING ky derby horse back in the preakness are insane. Its stupid. Bro Derek had a hard derby race, wide, losing a shoe and all out to the wire AND had a suspect workout at Santa Anita before the race....that horse had no reason to be at pimlico. He was supposed to be sent back to SA to rest. Hendricks put his own selfish personal interest before that horse and you see what happened. BD washed out and ran like crap.
I think when you are dealing with millions of dollars in purses and tremendous exposure for these trainers (career making exposure) there\'s tremendous incentive to run a horse who doesn\'t belong.
IN a perfect world, every horse would have an exam, even the platers at the smaller tracks. But at this high of a level with the national exposure, we can\'t have horses breaking down on national tv like barbaro did. a stringent exam AFTER the derby would eliminate any horse with a problem.
The thought of him standing at the winners podium and giving two winners awards speechs four weeks apart is enough to kill the game if it doesn\'t kill itself first.