Damned Unbridled ankles. She had too much heart for her legs.

****... hit the race for $10k and i was crying my eyeballs out. loved that filly obviously as ive defended her on here quite a bit. RIP awesome Eight Belles...

I'm not trying to start anything here, but does anyone know if Dick Dutrow knew that Eight Belles was in obvious distress? I understand being excited after the race but if he knew and I stress if he knew of the fallen filly. You think a little more humility could have been used even after winning a race such as the derby.

From what I got from NBC the filly fell close to Big Brown while galloping out causing Kent to be thrown off the horse, so Kent D must have knew something was seriously wrong at that point.

Like I said not opening any can of worms here, but can someone find out if Dutrow knew.

On the overhead you can see the filly duck down to the rail even though he was lefty sticking her.

Im sure Dutrow was lost in the moment and hes not the most humble guy to begin with. Hard to fault him for being overjoyed, and certainly very sad to see such a nice filly give all she had and pay the ultimate price.

On the fillys behalf she was gaining at the end and didnt have a very good trip. Had she been given a clean run instead of the hard steady off heels I feel she may have been very close at the end.

I would sure hope so, Hammond commented I believe it was a 'contrast in juxtaposition'. Seeing Dutrow so over the top at one moment and showing the filly or the image of the filly on the ground with Bramalage just informing the world it was a catastrophic injury the other moment.

Ducking to the rail was the filly's calling card...she did it continually...even in her works. I actually remember Steve calling attention to it after the Fantasy Stakes and calling her a toss even in the Oaks with that being one of the reasons. I thought Saez gave her an ok ride...not perfect, but I don't think she could beat Big Brown under any circumstance. Incredibly talented filly who I thought could win and I really liked. Quite unfortunate to happen on this stage and somewhat mar Big Brown's superb performance.

What she did in the Derby inside the 8th was different than what she had done before. Espcially with the way she was being ridden. Im assuming she probably wasnt comfortable, its ashame he didnt get her pulled up sooner.

I don't remember...you may be correct on her last 8th. But even in her last work...Saez pulled out the whip with his left hand just in case...she was on top of the rail. I'm not going to second guess the jock at this time. He is quite young however.

RIP, Eight Belles.. she showed tremendous heart in that race.

I get the feeling that Dutrow was already weaving his way through the crowd to the finish circle when it happened and probably didn't see. Although she killed my tris and supers, this is very tragic, RIP.

He could have gotten her pulled up sooner, thats all Im saying. Its not his fault she broke down

I just feel whenever anyone in the future references Big Brown's preformance, they should take the time to respect the heart of this filly, and how she ran, what a lady....

Godspeed Eight Belles...

Rip :(

So sad :(

I think she's THE story of this race if you ask me...Big Brown, more or less, did what was expected of him, she ran lights out, surprised a lot of people (myself included). So sad that she went down, totally dampened my day.

Obviously Big Brown seems to be something special and as the focus to him working toward a possible Triple Crown, the spotlight will fade off Eight Belles, and what happened, which is unfortunate, because she was magical today. It sucks how one in one flash, you see the brilliance and majesty and then in another you see the unfortunate.

She really did. Poor girl.

I actually said the same thing.

RIP girl.

i liked this big girl from the first time i saw her. she ran her heart out today and shocked alot of people. Eight Belles, Thank You for your best today!
easily the saddest ticket i've ever cashed.:(

16k
and now

10k

in two flippn days...

Good Lord.

May she rest in peace. She truly ran the race of her life. What a heartbreak. My prayers are for Larry and Gabriel and her connections. What a heart. She didn't want to be beat and ran beyond the envelope.

Say hello to Ruffian.

Hendrix broke two legs.

Jesus. Poor girl.

This is from DRF...

Rest in peace, Eight Belles.

Jones: 'She went out a champion'
By MIKE WELSCH

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - At a press conference two hours after his filly Eight Belles was euthanized on the racetrack after fracturing both front ankles following her second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, a choked up Larry Jones said: "She went out in a blaze of glory, she went out a champion. We're heartbroke. We're going to miss her."

Jones had won the Kentucky Oaks the previous afternoon with Proud Spell. He also trained Hard Spun, who finished second in the 2007 Derby.

Jones said he watched Eight Belles cross the finish and gallop out around the turn and was unaware that she had been injured.

"She hit the wire running, I watched her gallop out around the turn with her ears up following Big Brown, and she did not appear to be in any distress," said Jones. "At that point we were kind of high fivin' and thinking this was deja vu like last year. I had trouble getting through the crowd to get to the racetrack and when we finally got to the track I saw Kent (Desormeaux) coming back and you could tell from the look on his face he was a little solemn. It was just not like he'd won the Kentucky Derby. Then I heard a horse had broken down and figured it must have been one of the ones who'd run poorly, and then someone said, 'That's your jock riding back on the pony with Donna Brothers.' "

And when Jones finally got to his rider, Gabriel Saez, he learned the bad news.

"He told me, 'Mr. Larry they put her down,' " said Jones. "And I thought, how do you put a horse down like this? We're used to trying to save them. I caught a ride in the ambulance to where she was lying on the racetrack and when I saw her I knew there was no way of her being saved."

Jones says he didn't know what caused the injury, but that it didn't have anything to do with her racing against males for the first time in her career. Nor did he blame the racetrack, which was soaked by rains on Friday and early Saturday morning but was rated fast by post time for the Derby.

"I see no reason for this," said Jones. "It happened a quarter of a mile after the race. If she was under a little stress finishing the race, was losing ground and looked like she was in distress, I would have second-guessed myself severely and kicked myself in the pants. She went into the race the best she's ever gone into any race in her life, she was so calm in the paddock, so confident. I know we're probably going to get criticized and second-guessed by somebody who'll come up with the idea she shouldn't have been in there, but it wasn't in the race this happened. She could have done this racing against Shetland ponies. All she had to do was pull up and come back and we'd be happy. Unfortunately that just didn't happen."

Jones choked up again when talking about footage that appeared on the ESPN broadcast earlier in the day showed him exercising Eight Belles here this week.

"She's been our family, she's been with us for a year and that was my last ride on her," he said while choking up briefly. "Losing animals isn't fun. It's not supposed to happen. We're going to miss her."

I'm at a loss of words. How can this happen?

My entire family and extended family knows I love thoroughbred horse racing, and it's pretty much my own little "hobby" except for my friendly "don't mess with the DVR" stuff on big race days.

When they asked for recaps of the race today, I just let 'em know the favorite won, and appeared to be the "real deal."

Not much in the mood to talk about anything more, and no desire to put a downer on anyone else's day for now.

Damn, when these horses get hurt it hurts.

First Chelokee, then Eight Belles . . . what a tough couple of days. Sorrow for Eight Belles, prayers for Chelokee. My sympathies to all her connections :(