How serious is grabbing a quarter?

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

I thought 'Grabbing a quarter' usually happens when a horse strikes himself?

It looks more like Matterhorn did it for him. He cut him, and he just so happened to cut him in that area of the foot.

It's impossible to quantify how much that cost him...but, 1.75 lengths in a 12 furlong dirt race is practically nothing.

If you get beat by 1.75 lengths going 6 furlongs, that's one thing, but going 12 furlongs, that's a very small margin of defeat.

I would love for someone to tell me, in the 146 year history of the Belmont Stakes, exactly when the top 5 finishers were all separated by less than 2 lengths at the wire. I'd be quite surprised if it has ever happened before.

Yes, that is correct. The other horse stepped on him coming out of the gate. But you would expect to get the same effect whether he did it to himself or another horse did it to him. It's basically the same injury either way.