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[1hooper]

As a fan of racing I've been bummed out since The Classic. Having trouble letting it go.
Maybe it's just me.
Anyone else?

[cherokeescot]

Not just you. That feeling you have is more widespread than the flu right now.

[Deleted]

Mrs. Mac, Small and I watched the classic from the rail just past the eighth pole. Rob was the first one to see Mongolian Groom go bad. We saw him go by us on three legs although we couldn’t see the distortion that shows up on the video from our angle. By the time he pulled up about 50 yards past us the vet crew was already there and had the screens up. 

My reaction was one of anger at the fates for allowing this to happen on this stage. Catastrophic rear end breakdowns are very rare. I don’t think I have seen another one live and the only other ones I can think of are Barbaro and Roving Boy. I came away much like Jerry Brown said in his article that no one is to blame for MG’s accident. 

The media calls it number 37 this year but think that is overly simplistic. If there was one recurring theme to the injuries I would be concerned but the 37 have happened on turf, dirt, training track, in the mornings, during the races, injuries to sesamoids, fetlocks, etc. I think that 37 horses in 10 months at one of the busiest racetracks in NA might be perfectly normal. I see counts at Keeneland and Belmont that are in the same range. Maybe this is why racing executives discouraged such reporting in the old days.

I remember many many years ago watching a race from the barn turn at Assiniboia Downs and having a chestnut filly go bad right in front of me. She didn’t go down but Frank Licata the rider pulled her up and I looked around and realized I was the only one close to help him. I hopped the rail and grabbed the reins while Licata cursed, unsaddled her and buggered off towards the grandstand. I waited while the gate crew arrived in their van, the horse ambulance arrived and she was loaded and summarily dispatched by the track vet. Later I went to the spot near where I knew the breakdowns were stored until the rendering guy came the next morning to pick them up. She was there and she had a compound fracture of a front cannon bone. I remember looking at the filly’s shattered leg and being in awe of how much force had to be involved to cause an injury that severe. One thing I took away was an understanding of why horses with badly broken legs were very unlikely to be saved.

I’m not sure if I have a point to make or not. Each of us as racing fans and horse lovers has to come to terms with the risk the horses face on the track. I am satisfied that everything that could have been done to make things safe for MG was done...it just wasn’t enough in this case.

[cherokeescot]

Great post Keith. I saw that the announced crowd was 67,000. Didn’t look like that many to me watching on tv. What did you think ?

[1hooper]

They may have sold 67K tickets but no way there were that many a$$es on track.
Similar to what NYRA announces.

[Deleted]

I didn’t think the track was as crowded as it was when we attended in 2012 but it was close. I recall the announced attendance in 2012 was in the 55k range. The grandstand seats were pretty much full except for the last couple of sections at the very top of the stretch. Getting out of the parking lot took 45 minutes on Saturday. Much less on Friday. Maybe they should run one race after the Classic on Saturday to ease the congestion a bit.

[Deleted]

3 breakdowns in the first six races at Del Mar today. The “safest track in America” is regressing to the norm.

[1hooper]

www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/three-horses-break-down-sunday-at-del-mar/