Thank you VERY much, Andy.
It's obviously not the house handicapping show's place to be the first to make such announcements, but hey, we just ran a great stakes race where the overwhelming fav was defeated, and the victor is hurt. Let's not pretend it didn't happen.
It's the track announcers place to inform the public, obviously. "To update on the outcome of the sixth race, the winner Springside went lame after the wire, Gomez jumped off her, she's being attended to ... "
Obviously nobody needs to speculate on outcome, nor does an owner need a mic shoved in their face. Just say briefly, after the horse is off the track, what happened and what's happening now to care for the horse.
The public face of failing to acknowledge that it even happened, to ignore there isn't a trophy presentation, is ridiculous and insulting to the horse and the connections.
NYRA gets a failing grade today in PR and concern for the horse on that one.
Edit: And Barclay Tagg finally gets a break!
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"Have the clean racing people run any ads explaining that giving a horse a Starbucks and a chocolate poppyseed muffin for breakfast would likely result in a ten year suspension for the trainer?" - Dr. Andrew Roberts
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