The Racing Hub : Eight Belles

Maddening Media

cdawahare — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:44:00 GMT

Courtesy of Railbird

The situation with Eight Belles has illustrated my disdain for the media.

Unfortunately, most outlets tell the story they want to tell rather than the actual story. The vocal minority gets the soundbytes while anyone who's really in the mix goes ignored.

A story in the Lexington Herald-Leader commented that the Eight Belles tragedy has turned people off the sport. It quoted one woman who lives in Sunbury, Ohio, who said she didn't even watch the Derby because of a previous incident at a three-day eventing event.

How could Eight Belles' death have turned her off if she didn't watch to begin with?

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Safety First

cdawahare — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:33:00 GMT

By Alex Waldrop, NTRA.com

Like many of you, I watched Saturday’s Kentucky Derby and was in awe of the amazing performance of Big Brown and his talented jockey, Kent Desormeaux. Big Brown ran a race from the 20th post position that was remarkable. And Desormeaux rode a race that even I could appreciate as very skillful. Unfortunately for racing, events unfolded after the race that completely overshadowed Big Brown’s impressive performance.

Eight Belles, a beautiful gray filly trained by Larry Jones, was galloping out after her imposing second-place finish when something went terribly wrong and she collapsed on the track after fracturing bones in both front legs. Those of us in the stands at Churchill Downs were left wondering what had happened since she went down almost at the 7/8ths pole near the backstretch far away from the grandstand. Our only indication of trouble was the sight of one human ambulance and two horse ambulances making their way to the other side of the track. It clearly did not look good.

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HorseRace Insider - Time to Change Kentucky Derby Eligibility Rules

cdawahare — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:13:00 GMT

Win, lose or post position draw, this should be the final year that Kentucky Derby eligibility is determined by earnings, graded or otherwise.

The system has outlived its utility and no longer makes sense. Twenty Derby starters is the modern rule, not the exception. And it matters not whether that this year’s draw involving the filly Eight Belles went smoothly. Using any criteria, she earned her way in.

Admission based on earnings is fraught with inequities to the existing prep process too numerous to mention, and in the future it’s bound to get worse because any track could artificially inflate the importance of its prep race by throwing money at it. That might be good for business but it’s bad for the Derby.

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