I am finished with horse racing.

RonBurgundy

Another horse goes down today at the Breeders' Cup. Very last race. A horse that had been retired, then brought back for this race, dislocates its ankle and is euthanized.

I've had it. Done. Not going to watch it anymore.



Ron

thegemmintman

Which one? I only caught the last few races.

RonBurgundy

The last race (the Classic). George Washington was the horse.

3rd straight year that at least one horse has died at the BC.

I'm sure there will be a lot of regret from the owners and trainer about bringing the horse out of retirement, especially against a super strong field where he had little chance to win. Pure money play by them. Sad.



Ron

thegemmintman

I saw him get hurt, but did they have to put him down?


You know most of the tracks are switching to this new Poly surface, and the injuries are way down with that surface.

RonBurgundy

Yep, they euthanized him on the track.

The poly surface seems promising. But after Barbaro, and these races, it's hard to keep watching. Can't imagine what it's like at lower tier races where this stuff happens all the time.



Ron

thegemmintman

grote15

Most disturbing about the death of this old horse was that his owners put him back into training only because he was found to be infertile after they put him out to stud. Very disheartening. I love to watch horses race, there are few events as exciting as watching these awesome animals down the stretch run in a race, but there's no question that the the skinny ankles on horses were not designed to withstand punishment that comes with racing, either.

ArnyVee

Sheesh....I can't stand when I hear about this happening. Why must they euthanize the horses? Is it just absolutely impossible for a horse to survive an injury?

thegemmintman

<< <i>Is it just absolutely impossible for a horse to survive an injury? >>





They can often survive a bad injury, but what often happens is that while they're recuperating on one leg, they putting too much weight on the other leg and the good leg develops lamintis which is nearly impossible to treat. So instead of going through that they'll just put the animal down.

megatron

<< <i>Sheesh....I can't stand when I hear about this happening. Why must they euthanize the horses? Is it just absolutely impossible for a horse to survive an injury? >>



I always wonder the exact same thing. Can someone who follows horse racing more closely provide details as to why this occurs? Curious minds want to know.

grote15

I always wonder the exact same thing. Can someone who follows horse racing more closely provide details as to why this occurs? Curious minds want to know.


Even with the best medical care, it's virtually impossible for a horse to survive an injury like the one George Washington suffered today, since as gem mint mentioned, a horse will invariably develop laminitis after favoring the injured leg. Unlike a human, you can can't bed rest a horse--they most continue standing and can only lay down for brief periods of time or they are unable to breathe properly. Look at all the money and care spent on Barbaro, and even he ultimately had to be put down despite all those efforts (which must have cost a ton of money), so it's often easier and even more humane to put the horse down after a serious injury. The truth is that the bones at the end of a horse's leg are very thin and fragile, and frankly speaking, it's remarkable that these types of injuries don't happen more often when you consider how much stress and pressure racing puts on those legs.

RonBurgundy

The injury in this case was a dislocated ankle, which is much worse than it sounds. It often breaks the skin like a fracture and infection immediately sets in along with shutting down the blood supply. At that point there is almost no hope of the horse ever walking normally again. It gets this bad because as others have noted, their legs are very fragile.

I am pretty angry about this one because this horse was brought out of retirement after it was discovered he couldn't breed. The owners couldn't leave well enough alone, they had to run him again to suck more money out of him.

In a cruel twist of irony, Barbaro's owners used to own this horse. They were not the current owners.




Ron

stevek

I was watching this race live on TV at a horse racetrack simulcast when this event occurred - horse and jockey killed.

Copied from the internet:

<<< WOLFHUNT: Broke both front legs in $5,000 claiming race at Fairplex Park, Sept. 9, 1999. Autopsy found pre-existing stress fracture in left front cannon bone CHRB report said Wolfhunt had been injected with cortisone on the morning of the race (prohibited). Jockey J.C. Gonzalez, age 23, was killed in the accident when Wolfhunt broke down. Rest in peace, J.C. and Wolfhunt -- you deserved better care. >>>

bigfische

Was the track a sloppy mess like the first day?

stown

So sad. Nothing against the people that enjoy horse racing but for me, personally, I don't want to have anything to do with it nor the dog track.

Just makes me sick to my stomach

stevek

Breeders' Cup Classic Ends in Tragedy
By BETH HARRIS,AP Sports
Posted: 2007-10-27 21:34:21

OCEANPORT, N.J. (Oct. 27) - Barbaro's owners endured more tragedy at the track when the colt they bred broke down Saturday in the Breeders' Cup - the second year in a row thoroughbred racing's big event was marred by a fatal accident.

Timothy A. Clary, AFP / Getty Images Workers shield European star George Washington from fans as he is euthanized near the finish line. The horse broke down in the stretch run of the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic, shattering the cannon bone in his right leg.

On a day when even casual fans tune in for the sport's version of the Super Bowl, European star George Washington broke his leg in the stretch and was immediately euthanized.

Jockey Mick Kinane pulled up his mount at the rear of the nine-horse field as Curlin dashed to a 4 1/2-length victory on the sloppy track at Monmouth Park.

George Washington fractured his cannon bone - "a hopeless injury," said Dr. Larry Bramlage, the on-call veterinarian.

It's the type of tragedy that occurred twice last year.

In the Breeders' Cup Distaff, Pine Island broke down and was euthanized and Fleet Indian sustained a career-ending injury at Churchill Downs.

And then there was Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner who broke his leg early in the Preakness and was euthanized eight months later.

Roy and Gretchen Jackson, who spent millions of dollars trying to keep Barbaro alive, were the breeders of the European colt. And, indeed, George Washington helped make their Derby win with Barbaro extra special by winning the 2000 Guineas - the opening leg of the English classics - the same day.

"When you're at the extreme, extreme things happen," said Curlin's trainer Steve Asmussen. "At this level, they are going for all they can and then a little bit more."

As George Washington skittered a few steps while lifting up his injured leg, workers rushed to him and surrounded the 4-year-old colt with brown screens that blocked the view of the crowd. The horse ambulance quickly appeared and maneuvered into position as 41,781 fans watched in silence.

The workers managed to load George Washington into the ambulance under the cover of the screens.

"He broke one sesamoid (bone) and then dislocated the ankle to the side. That destroys the blood supply, which makes this such a difficult injury," Bramlage said.

George Washington was fifth at the half-mile pole, then dropped back to seventh before getting hurt in the stretch.

"Typically these injuries occur in the last part of the race," said C. Wayne McIlwraith, another on-call veterinarian working the event. "They are more fatigued, so they have got less support to the joint."

Kinane slid off near the colt's neck and held the reins as help moved in.

"He did well to stay up. He was brave," Kinane said. "He stayed up on it. He saved me."

The Classic was just George Washington's second race on dirt; his first was in last year's Classic at Churchill Downs, where he was sixth.

"He could have had trouble with being less coordinated on (dirt), as he's used to racing on grass," McIlwraith said. "We talk a lot now about investigating the cause of these fractures, minor incoordination or just not landing on the leg exactly the same way as a horse that's completely used to that surface does."

George Washington wasn't even supposed to race anymore. He was retired at the end of last year with plans to go to stud, but was found to be infertile and put back into training.

For Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien it was one of the worst days of his career. Before George Washington went down, his other horse, Dylan Thomas, faded to fifth in the $3 million Turf as the wagering favorite.

George Washington won six of 13 career starts and earned more than $1.4 million racing mostly in Europe for owners Susan Magnier of Ireland and Englishmen Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith.