Just A Terribly Sad Day For Horse Racing, Animal Lovers Everywhere

PETA predictably has and will undoubtedly continue to exploit this poor animal's death Saturday and any others they can manage, and they wasted no time jumping on the back of the jockey and owners of poor euthanized Eight Bells and sometimes sicken me just as much as some of the real offenders and animal abusers that they portend to battle against.

I myself am not nor ever have been a fan of horse racing as I do not gamble, with money at least, and personally consider it a somewhat exploitive endeavor that only the terribly rich engage in although I have a brother whom is a racehorse syndicate owner with friends of his here in Chicago at the famed Arlington Park which is literally miles from my home in Buffalo Grove.

I however do not begrudge those who enjoy the sport and all it's trappings and believe that for the most part it is a well regulated industry and sadly these things happen thankfully not all that often though statistics do show that about 2 horses a day are injured racing across America so it does happen.It's just a sad thing seeing any animal suffer and ultimately die at the hands of humans be it for sport or whatever, but there are many tragedies around the world each and every day and this I'm afriad isn't exactly America's biggest problem at hand but deserves attention to keep it's occurences to an absolte minimum which again I believe is done.

Big Brown, black day --

chicagotribune.com: "LOUISVILLE—Big Brown's resounding triumph Saturday in the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs was tempered by the demise of runner-up Eight Belles.

Jockey Gabriel Saez was easing up the filly at the start of the backstretch after finishing 43/4 lengths behind Big Brown when her two front legs suddenly buckled and she went down.

'She broke both front ankles and they immediately euthanized her,' said Larry Bramlage, the veterinarian on call at the Triple Crown races. 'She didn't have a front leg to stand on to be splinted. Absolutely nothing could have been done."

"I have never seen a horse go that far [after crossing the finish line] and pull up with an injury, and not just one injury but two."

Unlike Barbaro's breakdown at the start of the 2006 Preakness when all eyes were on him, this horrific injury occurred when the 157,770 fans were preoccupied with undefeated Big Brown's great performance.

"When he turned for home I knew the game was over," said Big Brown's trainer, Rick Dutrow. "It was just the way we envisioned things when we drew [the 20th post]. Every inch of this race was to our liking."

Big Brown is the first horse since Clyde Van Dusen in 1929 to win from the No. 20 post position and the first since the filly Regret in 1915 to win after having run in only three races. story continued here

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