Breakdowns on Big days

[eajinabi]

Is there some co-realtion to Breakdowns and the Big Days of racing?

Barbabro, GEorge Washington, Eight Belles and Chelokee. There was also a Ogden phipps horse that broke down in the distaff in the 2006 BC.


How many breakdowns do we see on regular days??
There are some but percenatge wise seems like it happens more on the big days. Not a very good image for horse racing especialy on the national stage.

Why do they need to sup up the track on the big days. Maybe someone should look at that.

[ateamstupid]

It's mostly Churchill.

[philcski]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

It's mostly Churchill.

Oddly enough, normally Churchill is one of the safest dirt tracks. Just some very unfortunate incidents lately, I'm afraid. Not a knock on the super there as 5" of rain is tough to deal with anywhere, but that track looked REALLY hard yesterday.

[Danzig]

i don't think it's more on big days, it's just that big name horses get more press.
most of the time, if it's not an a list horse, you don't hear about it. you only know if you're there to see a horse go down, or are viewing on t.v.

[pointman]

Frankly, I believe that Eight Belles should have run in the Oaks and not the Derby. I believed it before the race and even though she ran teriffically, she had to run her heart out to chase that monster which probably contributed to her breakdown. It is a shame that Rick Porter wanted to get into the Derby so bad, they should have learned their lesson from Rags last year. While Rags won the Belmont, it was at the cost of her racing career. It is a shame, this one could have been one of the great fillies.

[ArlJim78]

Originally Posted by pointman

Frankly, I believe that Eight Belles should have run in the Oaks and not the Derby. I believed it before the race and even though she ran teriffically, she had to run her heart out to chase that monster which probably contributed to her breakdown. It is a shame that Rick Porter wanted to get into the Derby so bad, they should have learned their lesson from Rags last year. While Rags won the Belmont, it was at the cost of her racing career. It is a shame, this one could have been one of the great fillies.

I don't blame the connections, and I don't feel it was the competition that led to the accident. If so, why didn't any of the overmatched colts break down? Weren't they chasing the same monster and running their hearts out?

[nfliehman]

Originally Posted by pointman

Frankly, I believe that Eight Belles should have run in the Oaks and not the Derby. I believed it before the race and even though she ran teriffically, she had to run her heart out to chase that monster which probably contributed to her breakdown. It is a shame that Rick Porter wanted to get into the Derby so bad, they should have learned their lesson from Rags last year. While Rags won the Belmont, it was at the cost of her racing career. It is a shame, this one could have been one of the great fillies.

I agree but at the same time im thinking it was just a freak thing that happened. I told my girlfriend before the race I would gladly lose the money I bet yesterday on that race to see all the horses come out healthy and unfort it just didnt happen that way. I wish they wouldnt have shown her on the ground though...

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by Danzig

i don't think it's more on big days, it's just that big name horses get more press.
most of the time, if it's not an a list horse, you don't hear about it. you only know if you're there to see a horse go down, or are viewing on t.v.

Really? Four breakdowns in the last five big days at Churchill, two of them fatal, and it's not more on big days?

[fpsoxfan]

Well, here we go again. Because the breakdown occurred on the big stage, both NBC and CBS have done stories on the evening news about the dangers of horse racing. The answer according to the "experts" is synthetic tracks.
The CBS report claims that horse racing deaths are down 25% on tracks that have converted to synthetic. How long do you give Churchill? A year? Two years? Seems like the only time our sport makes the news is when something like this happens. This is Bullshiat!!!!!!!

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Really? Four breakdowns in the last five big days at Churchill, two of them fatal, and it's not more on big days?

i don't know that it's more, or less. there are more small days than big days, so i guess there would be more on small days...just because of the #'s involved. you'd also think that big horses would be taken care of better than the other horses, so they'd have less breakdowns. but they'd also get more coverage.
i just think, based on the fact that about 80% of the horses being raced are claimers, that they would also have more of the injuries-but less of the press.

[Suffolk Shippers]

Originally Posted by Danzig

i don't think it's more on big days, it's just that big name horses get more press.
most of the time, if it's not an a list horse, you don't hear about it. you only know if you're there to see a horse go down, or are viewing on t.v.

Good point...also, if it's on national TV, it's a lock to make news for a few media cycles.

Fact is, as most of us are aware, this happens more often than we'd like to acknowledge. In my eyes, it is just as unfortunate when a 6 yr old $4,000 claimer breaks down in a race at Prairie Meadows as when a highly touted star like Eight Belles, George Washington or Barbaro does. The only difference is, at Prairie Meadows only the 38 people in attendance and simulcast watchers see it. On days like yesterday, millions see it, and hear Larry Blamalage lay it out cold that the filly had to be put down.

[ddthetide]

would we be having the same discussion had EB gone down on Oaks day?
would EB run any less hard chasing or matching strides with Proud Spell?
someone mentioned the synthetic surface, instead of having dirt tracks faster on big days, keep the softer, deeper, slower ALL the time. it has to be safer?

[JJP]

Originally Posted by eajinabi

Is there some co-realtion to Breakdowns and the Big Days of racing?

Barbabro, GEorge Washington, Eight Belles and Chelokee. There was also a Ogden phipps horse that broke down in the distaff in the 2006 BC.


How many breakdowns do we see on regular days??
There are some but percenatge wise seems like it happens more on the big days. Not a very good image for horse racing especialy on the national stage.

Why do they need to sup up the track on the big days. Maybe someone should look at that.

Interesting question. Tracks have been noted to "soup up" their track for some reason or another on big days. I've never understood it but we've seen evidence of it. Real handicappers know the unadjusted time is meaningless and I can't see non-racing fans getting all excited because a horse runs a 1:35 mile instead of maybe a 1:36 3/5 over a deeper track. But a harder track could contribute to more breakdowns.

The George Washington breakdown drew lots of criticism since many (myself included) felt that he had no business running in the BC Classic. Considering how EIght Belles ran, she certainly wasn't overmatched by the other 18 non Big Brown males. Have to also think that Grade 1 caliber performers might try a little harder and that riders may be putting forth as much effort as possible. Put it all together and I can see why there's more breakdowns in these scenarios.