Rich Strike's Outrider
 

You may or may not agree, but the Outrider who came to Rich Strike after the race should be FIRED!! Repeated jerking on the reins and pounding on the head and nose with a closed fist is NOT something you do to a horse that just ran a mile and a quarter, especially when the race is on National T.V. This person had another rider there, and instead of asking for help, he repeatedly beat on the horse. He could have asked the other rider to come along the other side and help out. I'd be tossing my head around too if some Moron kept jerking on my mouth. Inexcusable display of stupidity.

Yeah the optics on that were bad

****ing idiot. My wife who is basically JQPUBLIC was screaming at the TV live him alone

There is ALWAYS some Moron who comes out of nowhere to give the public a bad image about racing, never fails.

everybody on twitter is saying he didnt hit him
 

how can u say he didnt hit him? jezh

I'm not condoning or vice versa but Rich Strike took a chunk out of the outrider's horse's neck (photos on Twitter) and I saw Rich Strike trying to bite that horse several times and got close to the outrider's hand a few times.
I have been bitten on the shoulder blade by a gelding when I was much younger and know that they can take a finger off or cause great damage...and no, he could not let that horse loose or that itself could have been disastrous.
Like DaHoss stated, optics did not look good but what else could he do until he got a longer lead hooked on?

https://twitter.com/francesjkaron/st...692416/photo/1

Take a look at the rein almost bitten in two

Yeah I think it looked way worse than it really was. I was trying my best to explain it to people who watch horse racing once a year to no avail after the race to no avail.

Racetrackers deal with rank studdish horses every day. The horse doesn't know it's misbehaving. The horsemen who deal with that and understand they are passionate animals are the one's that shine. Who get and accept the dangers.

Mostly it's behind the scenes.

To do what that outrider did. With the world watching is inexcusable.

That's the very time you have to use your head and not lose it.

It's called horsemanship.

He did his job very poorly.

No justification.

Social media can blow the smallest things into full blow tragedies. This really is overblow. Anyone around horses knows that.

well i stand corrected
 

go to facebook and search katie catlady jackson,,she posted a picture of rich strike whole mouth around outfigers leg,no wonder he hiy t him

Hosses who bite people get punched in the face every day.

NO MATTER WHAT. You cannot strike an animal in public. And of course it's a thousand times worse on the Derby winner on National television.

Studdish colts can be dangerous assholes.

Elite horseman know they have to bigger. NO MATTER WHAT.

True and every day it's not OK or acceptable.

I see a big future for this new bromance.

To be fair, I watched the race with 50+ people and not one of them even commented on this. I don’t think that many people are talking about it.

Of all people, I didn’t think you’d be leading the mob to crucify a guy for not doing his job well.

Sounds good.

Greg Blasi is widely admired as one of (if not the single best) outrider horseman in the country. He picks up and escorts the Derby winner annually. He did what he needed to do take control of Rich Strike and the internet's Monday Morning Outriders don't have a clue.

My wife asked if Rich Strike got into Donnie Jr's Stash. I think she was kidding..

I think what might have helped would have been someone on the broadcast explain what was going on. I say might because nothing would have helped the opinions of some but I knew he wasn’t doing anything bad and still thought it looked bad.

Too bad I kept you off a TV gig because you could have explained it well :D

Greg is superb at what he does. It's a difficult and dangerous job.

However, with the scrutiny we are under. The perception that racing doesn't care about the animals.

IMO he should have considered and remembered he was on camera and the entire world was watching.

When you say he did what he NEEDED to do. Casual fans are not going to understand or care.

Race horses make their handlers mad and frustrated every day the barn area is open for training. The truly great horsemen find a way to control their emotions.

You cannot punch a horse on national TV. No matter what.

Appreciate your input Steve. It's no secret that I admire your work and what you do for the industry.

Someone to explain to the casual fans what was happening. That studdish, rank horses can be dangerous would have been GREAT.

:tro:

Really? If you realize it or not, people that don't recognize that Mr. Biasi is a horse whisperer aren't watching save your friends on the backstretch. Without context, millions of people watch a race once a year and see stuff that fuels the fire of hostile media. And while I am not an outrider nor have I stayed at a holiday inn, the guy and his horse were bit or savaged, and Mr. Horse Whisperer was pissed, and being pissed on national TV and viewing his rightful emotion is not a great look. So my wife asks, do they always make a horse ride with a pony after a race? Nope, it's for TV. They want that human moment interview. Oh, so they can let him go and stop this nonsense. Yep. Too bad I didn't know that Biasi was the greatest. Then I could explain how that should matter to her or racing.

Nothing against the outrider and I am sure he is excellent and puts his life on the line to save horses and people on the track daily...none of that is the point

VERY SHARP POST

What does one do when a horse is biting your leg to make him stop? Lot's of pandering but not 1 suggestion of what they would have done if the horse is chomping their leg.

Maybe let it go because the only reason it is biting you is that it is next to you? We have seen Maggie on SPA Live deal with rank and aggressive horses, and while her job was to get an interview after the race, it wasn't a mandate, so it didn't happen. Our horse whisperer and his horse HAD to get an interview for NBC, as such, it was so impossible to let the horse go even if it wasn't the right horse for the chore. People wanted to hear from the jockey, and it was a great story NBC tried to tell it. Yet instead of recognizing it wasn't going to happen without very dubious activity, they forced the issue.

Now we learn that the outrider is terrific, which I have no doubt he is that said...Have a Heart

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is Sonny Leon didn't seems to have any issue with what Blasi was doing. Which leads me to believe it wasn't that big of a deal.

That's pure speculation on my part, but if Blasi was doing something wrong wouldn't the rider have done something different?

I doubt he was doing anything wrong, and it's Sonny Leon (no disrespect), not Smith or JV, telling him to get the **** out of my face. None of this is the point. It does not matter if Mr. Horse Whisperer was doing anything egregious. Horse racing needed a message to a national audience. That message ALWAYS has to be, and we hear it daily from typical horse people. The horse comes first. Sometimes the horse cooperates, and we can get you that interview. Other times have to scrap it because it's in the animal's best interest.

I hear you Freddy. That's why I think it was a perfect time for someone on the broadcast to educate. Didn't happen.

I think fans and people in the industry are too sensitive to the “image” that is portrayed of horse racing. I don’t think this situation is a big deal to 90% of people. I’m not sure how many people even noticed. The casual gambler has already moved on. I know quite a few people who are animal lovers. I haven’t heard anything from them. People within the industry seem to be making more of a fuss about this than anyone else.

That’s not to say the industry shouldn’t want a positive public image, but I think it would be more productive to focus on aftercare and getting harmful drugs out of the sport and other things of that sort. One guy getting rough with a horse is explainable. An industry basically failing to protect horses and care for them after their racing careers is something that can’t really be explained or defended.

Yes, the sport doesn’t need negative press. But the reason it can’t handle negative press is because it’s failed to take care of the big stuff that remain a black eye on the sport. Hopefully we are headed in the right direction with that though.

I am agreement with too much of this to nit pick.

I could tell you in private....otherwise there may be a lynching with me as the guest of honor:eek:

:D:D

here is a twitter pic with Rich Strike giving another pony some love

https://twitter.com/skipaway2000/sta...111872/photo/1

notice Sonny has a handfull of mane too...some of the twitter comments say be was acting up in the post parade...take that FWIW

Also, if you can catch a replay of the interview that Eric Reed did on The Today Show, he stated that the outrider was bitten "terribly" on the leg and also a couple of times on his arm. Reed said he was grateful for the outrider's actions that most likely saved his horse from injury "if he had of gotten away".

Like stated on this thread earlier, a missed opportunity for the broadcast team to offer up some explanation but again, there was a ton of other stuff going on to focus on.

Was just watching PARDON THE INTERRUPTION on ESPN.

Both Mike Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser admitted they know nothing about horse racing.

Wilbon was asking is it unusual for a horse to try to bite another horse.

Then they both agreed regardless what they did or did not know.

There was NO WAY the outrider should be repeatedly punching the KY DERBY winner in the head.

One of us could explain WHY the guy was doing it.

That's not going to appease these guys or anyone else in the general public.

Horse was very very difficult. Horsemen MUST be bigger.

Cannot hit him on national TV.

NO MATTER WHAT!