Barbaro

Catching up and offering a few observations and answers:

• Obviously, my thoughts are with Barbaro right now. But -- to an extent -- he's lucky to be alive at this point. Maybe it's the cynic in me, but if this were any other horse in any other race he'd likely have been put down already.
  
• Didn't watch it -- was at a wedding without a TV (saw replays since then, heartbreaking) -- but I caught the radio broadcast of the post-race and right away I could tell there was something wrong. It sounded as quiet as a church and Pimilco had 100,000 people. It's never that quiet.
  
• A few were asking about why a broken leg is lethal. As some have stated, horses can't lay in bed to heal. That's one reason. But horses also need their legs to balance their massive bodies. IIRC, without proper support a horse's organs can shift and start malfunctioning.
  
• I was just 1 when Ruffrian broke down, but I went to school with Jacinto Vazquez' nephews. They often talked about how Ruffian was the greatest horse Jacinto raced and how it took a long time for Jacinto to recover. Edgar Prado has been through a lot this past year (ESPN did a story on his mother's death from breast cancer and how he struggled getting a visa for her so she could get better treatment). I can't imagine what he's going through right now. Such a sad, sad story
  
• This will have a negative impact on the sport, no doubt. The impact here in Louisville likely will be minimal, our horse fans understand the risk. But it could be even more devastating in Maryland, where Pimlico is need of a major renovation. Its owners have threatened to pull the Preakness previously, and I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually did move out of Baltimore.

 

That pic 2MCM posted is heartbreaking. As someone said, far worse than Theismann or anyone else.

Freelance, what would happen if the Preakness moves? Would it still be the second part of the Triple Crown? (total horse racing amateur here)

 

Adding to what Freelance said, Pimlico is struggling to survive. Watched the Preakness with one of my friends and the first thing I noticed about the track was all the rowhouses behind the facility, which gives the place a seedy look.

 

I'm not sure if anything good can come out of this, but I hope this is shocking enough that the powers in racing will now consider adding more time between Triple Crown races.

With the current state of the Thoroughbred, there should be three weeks between Derby and Preakness and then a month to the Belmont.  Trying to cram these races into a five-week window just isn't plausible anymore -- not if racing wants to keep its stars healthy and on the racetrack.  Do they realize you'd have better fields for the Preakness and Belmont if horses had more time to recover?

The "traditionalists" can kiss my ass.  The Triple Crown has undergone many changes over the years.  There is nothing in writing that says it has to be done over five weeks, and in fact years ago it wasn't.  The breed lacks much of the sturdiness it used to have, and it's time the Triple Crown be adjusted accordingly.

 

Magna Entertainment owns Pimlico and several other tracks across the country. One of its tracks is Santa Anita. Other well-known Magna tracks are Gulfstream and Lone Star. I'd say they would likely be the top candidates to receive the Preakness if it's moved out of Maryland.

It would still be a part of the triple crown, but I'm not sure where it would fall in the triple crown. Not sure its feasible to send the horses cross country three times in a short period of time.

And I agree with spinning. Maybe it's time to spread out the races a little more. Maybe one a month with the Belmont run on July 4.

 

More Chris Antley: (Work heads-up: There's a thumbnail of a Maxim cover on the page, you make the call.) Also, if you're feeling sensitive, don't read the Alydar bit.

http://www.maximonline.com/articles/index.aspx?a_id=4630

Then the guy seen hanging around Antley's house with a crowbar broke into his house after his death:

http://www.bloodhorse.com/articleindex/article.asp?id=2623

Weird shit.

 

But like Hack said, isn't there always an inherent risk in horse racing? Human-sized ankles supporting far-larger-than-human bodies? Race timing doesn't seem like it'd be that big an issue; fatigue didn't take him down, a wrong step did, correct? There was a time when the Breeders Cup was a damned slaughterhouse, and didn't it have a breakdown last year? Ugh, I'm sick to my stomach having gone to great lengths to avoid footage.

I bet Grant Hill's glad he's not a horse.

 

Maryland Jockey Club sent out a release around 11:30 p.m. saying Barbaro is having surgery tomorrow

 

The Derby is the best known horse race in the country, perhaps the world. Like the Triple Crown, it's in need of some changes, but it still should remain the first leg of the Triple Crown.

 

Meat is right with one point. Sweetnorthernsaint came back from the Derby and finished second. And Charismatic had raced, what was it, 15 times by the time the Belmont came around? That might have contributed to his troubles. There's not a lot supporting the time frame argument except for one thing - they would be much, much better races because of the fields, as previously mentioned.
They wouldn't necessarily have to move the race from Pimlico. Even though it's not in one of the best areas, a really good refurbishment would do, and would benefit the track year-round. Wasn't today a record crowd? There's support there by fans.
I would never go against Dr. Bramlage, so if he says the premature gate incident wasn't a factor for Barbaro, I'll concede. But one improvement would be a required time frame, check and re-load whenever that happens, just for the sake of integrity. That way there wouldn't be speculation. One correspondent pointed out that he thought Matz didn't even get a chance to say, "Hey, wait a minute," after he broke through the gate.
It seems like something to consider.

 

Yes, always a risk.  And no, the two weeks may not have directly contributed to Barbaro's breakdown.

But go back and look at how many horses make it out of the Triple Crown series and go on to have long, productive racing careers.  It's very, very few.  Racing three times in five weeks is just such a strain on a horse these days that injury is almost inevitable.  I remember after the '89 Triple Crown, Sunday Silence went back to California and ran a few times, Easy Goer raced a few times in New York and then they hooked up in the Breeders' Cup Classic.  Alysheba in '87 raced hard in all three but danced every dance throughout the year.  Unbridled in '90 capped off the year by winning the Breeders' Cup.  It's been years since you've seen the top 3-year olds from the Triple Crown series race all the way through the summer and fall and make it to the Breeders Cup healthy.  

Even if you did have a Triple Crown winner, what would be the point?  They'd probably never race again.

 

We may not put down humans for just a broken leg, but human athletes put themselves at incredible risks to achieve superhuman feats.

Don't think so? Ask Al Lucas. Ask Hank Gathers. Ask Dale Earnhardt. Ask Idaho's cousin.

We haven't stopped playing football or basketball. We haven't stopped racing cars or running triathlons. And we won't There are tragic incidents that occur in every sport. We tend to shrug our shoulders and move on when it happens in those sports, but when it happens in horse racing it's a different story.

I'm not trying to trivialize today's sad event. Just trying to put it in perspective. Yes, I think it will impact (unfairly) the sport. It shouldn't, but it will.