May 17, 2008 @ 3:36 pm
Kentucky Derby 2008
I was impressed with the winner Big Brown in the recent Kentucky Derby 2008. He was one of my selections from looking at the runners’ form as I usually go for unbeaten horses in these major flat races. I also liked the fact that he looked a big strong horse rather than the often lightweight thoroughbreds often seen in the US. This subject has come into the spotlight following the sad death of the second horse Eight Belles after she broke both of her front ‘ankles’ or pasterns. My first thought was the horse had collapsed with with either a heart or broken blood vessel problem. I do not remember hearing of a horse breaking two legs in such a manner.
I much prefer to see horses run & train on grass rather than dirt, although the going on grass can be far from ideal in some circumstances. There were issues raised about running on dirt after the injury and death of George Washington in the very wet dirt conditions of the 2007 Breeders Cup. He too suffered a dislocated and fractured pastern, but on one leg rather than two. I wonder what are the relative frequencies of such injuries on the various racing surfaces?
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May 20th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Big Brown had a great run in the Preakness at the weekend and won very easily. He looks a superstar to me so fingers crossed that he runs and wins well in the Belmont Stakes in a few weeks time.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I had hoped that Big Brown would win the Triple Crown at the weekend but was shocked by his performance in the Belmont Stakes when he was in trouble before the last turn. As the jockey said he had no horse. I have no idea why he could have under-performed in such a major way and to date have seen no reported reason for this. I hope we find out why - if only they could talk!