134th Kentucky Derby: Triumph & Tragedy

This is the 2nd year I have been to the Kentucky Derby, and it is always an event - it is the Super bowl and Marde Gras rolled into one. This year the Derby was different - there was something special, and his name was Big Brown.  And I‘ll be the first to admit I had my doubts about Big Brown. I even changed my betting ticket, and placed Big Brown under in my exotics. Why did I do such a foolish thing? Well, I was not all that impressed with Big Brown going into this race, I felt that he had a lot to overcome coming into this race.

134th Kentucky Derby - Big Brown is an easy winner     Copyright Sue K Photo

It was five weeks since his Florida Derby win - granted, Barbaro had five weeks before his Derby, but it was 50 years prior to that that a horse had won off a five week layoff.  He had only 3 previous starts, and the last horse to win the Derby off 3 starts was Regret in 1915. Even the 2007 Horse of the Year, Curlin,  couldn’t pull off a similar feat last year. The big thing for me though he was going from post 20 - no horse has won from that spot since Clyde Van Dusen in 1929. No way I thought.

Big Brown, in the 4th start of his young career won this year’s edition of the Kentucky Derby, and remains undefeated.  Big Brown proved me wrong in a big way.

 

The Boundary colt stalked the pace setters, and  made a big move on the far turn, running 4 wide all around the track, and spurted away from the filly Eight Belles and the rest of the field with relative ease.  He came back barely breathing hard and not breaking a sweat.  It was a performance that has people whispering the words “Triple Crown winner.” 

But Big Brown’s win was tempered with sadness.  The only filly in the race, Eight Belles, ran the race of her life and finished 2nd, 2 ¾ lengths in front of Denis of Cork, who rallied from last.  Eight Belles collapsed on the far turn, after crossing the finish line.  She broke both her front ankles after what looked like possibly a bad step.  The brave and talented filly was euthanized on the spot, before her trainer Larry Jones even left the stands.

It was several minutes before I heard that a horse was down.  It’s actually hard to get any accurate information when you’re trackside. Because a few minutes later I was told it was Tale of Ekati, and many of the photographers around me thought it was Tale of Ekati as well. It wasn’t until I got back to the media center that I heard it was the filly.  It explained why Kent Desormeaux was subdued while being lead back to the winner’s circle on Big Brown. There was none of the usual fist pumping and celebration that is customary when one wins the Derby.  It was a while before the crowd realized what happened, and that changed the mood for the day.

This is the sport of horse racing - you have the joy and elation of winning the most famous race in the world against the images of the filly laying prone on the racetrack. It is sad and tragic and is part of the sport.  Of course there were the cries that a filly should never run with the boys.  Nonsense I say.  Todd Pletcher's filly, Rags To Riches, winner of the 2007 Kentucky Oaks ran against the boys 5 weeks later in the Belmont Stakes, the grueling 1 1/2 "test of champions," where she ran a thrilling stretch duel with the eventual 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin, beating him.  And the rest of the world runs the girls against the boys all the time.  The great race mare Ouija Board springs to mind - she regularly faced the boys, and beat them too.  If a filly or mare is talented enough to face the boys, buy all means she should be given the chance.  

Eight Belles walks to the paddock

The PETA people and other anti-racing advocates will have a field day with this one.  PETA demanded that the jockey, Gabriel Saez, should have been arrested for murder, for excessive whipping down the stretch.   I’m sure PETA is aware of it, but Eight Belles was just a horse, not a human being - and the whipping had nothing to do with the breakdown - she wasn’t being whipped after the finish line, when the injury accured, and the jockey had nothing to do with her mishap.  PETA even demands an apology from Hilary Clinton, who bet on Eight Belles, for perpetuating such cruelty as horse racing.  Hell, PETA was have me arrested for owning tow cats as pets, be causing having pets is a cruel act in itself.  And as I mentioned in my post regarding George Washington, horses will always fin a way to get themselves killed, be it in a race, in a workout, in a paddock, running into a tree in their paddock, or being struck by lightning

Others are screaming for polytrack to be installed in all tracks, because it is safer for the horses. There is not enough long term studies done, but initial results have shown there is a slight decrease in catastrophic injuries (requiring euthanasia), but there is an increase in soft tissue injuries, some career ending.  I’ve spoken in length in previous post about synthetic surfaces, some trainers love it and some trainers hate it, such as Bob Baffert and Nick Zito, who both admit their disdain for the surface.  Baffert has moved most of his operations to the east coast, and Zito said God made dirt and grass for horses to run on, not your old tires and carpeting.

In the end, Eight Belles was given the chance of a lifetime, to run tin the biggest he race of her young life, and she ran the race of her life.  And she gave her life running that race.