REAL Sports profile on juice in racing

Originally Posted by jman5581

How does a horse race with a broken pelvis?

Broken and cracked... I think an animal can have a crack even hairline and it can be called broken. It may be the animal can still run as long as long it is in a part of the pelvis that is not going to hinder the stride. I bet it still hurts like hell though. Guess he was drugged up. And the pounding probably does not help with the healing process.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by pgardn

Broken and cracked... I think an animal can have a crack even hairline and it can be called broken. It may be the animal can still run as long as long it is in a part of the pelvis that is not going to hinder the stride. I bet it still hurts like hell though. Guess he was drugged up. And the pounding probably does not help with the healing process.

There is no legal drug that would mask a broken pelvis

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

There is no legal drug that would mask a broken pelvis

I know humans can have a broken pelvis and not know it. It hurts but sometimes they are told its just a broken tailbone and it will heal. Then they go in for X-rays and the tailbone is not cracked its actually a crack in the pelvis. The pelvis is obviously set up differently in upright animals.

So you are saying any little crack in the pelvis could not possilby be masked with drugs?

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by pgardn

I know humans can have a broken pelvis and not know it. It hurts but sometimes they are told its just a broken tailbone and it will heal. Then they go in for X-rays and the tailbone is not cracked its actually a crack in the pelvis. The pelvis is obviously set up differently in upright animals.

So you are saying any little crack in the pelvis could not possilby be masked with drugs?

It is possible that a horse could run with a hairline fracture. It would be very difficult to pinpoint a hairline fracture without going to a clinic for xrays. Anything worse than a hairline and the horse would be in major pain and there is no way that the horse could run regardless of the curcuit.

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

It is possible that a horse could run with a hairline fracture. It would be very difficult to pinpoint a hairline fracture without going to a clinic for xrays. Anything worse than a hairline and the horse would be in major pain and there is no way that the horse could run regardless of the curcuit.

I was asking this because I know a large animal vet who found hairline fractures in riding ponies post mortum in school.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by pgardn

I was asking this because I know a large animal vet who found hairline fractures in riding ponies post mortum in school.

A lot of horses get pelvis injuries leaving the gate, hitting their hip on the gate.

[miraja2]

I have not seen the show yet, so maybe I am way off here, but I do get a little tired of the mainstream media only doing negative stories on horseracing (except of course for someone like NBC who has a vested interest in giving the sport a positive image).
The issue of horses being juiced is valid and worthy of coverage by a show like REAL Sports. So was their story about jocks struggling with weight/eating disorders. So was the Chicago Tribune's continuing coverage last year of horses breaking down at Arlington.
I guess it just bothers me that these are the only stories of the sport these people tell. The Chicago Tribune's coverage of horseracing is horrible compared to some of the big papers in the rest of the country. They flat-out just don't care about it. Fine. But then don't get all high-and-mighty when there is some negative story to report.
Does REAL Sports ever do any positive stories about the sport? With other sports they run positive and negative stories both about individuals and the sport itself. When it comes to horseracing, they don't seem at all interested in individual stories at all, and are only interested in stories that in some way condemn the entire sport.
Rant over.