Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2008 > May > 04
Sunday, May 4, 2008
BLOG: More on Eight Belles’ death
LOUISVILLE — Here are some other images and comments from the Eight Belles tragedy at Saturday’s Kentucky Derby:
It was an hour after the big grayish roan filly had been euthanized by injection on the track following what — at least in these early considerations — is being called an unexplainable break down.
Running an impressive race, Eight Belles had finished second — behind Big Brown, but well ahead of the 18 other colts in the race. A quarter mile past the finish line, she suddenly crumpled to the track with both of her front ankles so severely broken — her cannon and sesamoid bones broken — she could not be saved.
The death let a lot of air out of what had been a great racing day and nowhere was it felt more than at Barn 43, where Eight Belles trainer Larry Jones had sobbed uncontrollably as he stood outside her empty stall.
“She was our family,” he finally whispered. “It’s just not supposed to happen like this.”
One of the grooms finally closed the stall door. Another barn worker affixed a green bumper sticker to the door that read: “We Love Kentucky-Bred Eight Belles.”
One by one, some of the trainers and owners of the other Derby horses reached out to Jones and Eight Belles’ crestfallen owner Rick Porter
Before he talked to the press about the victory, Big Brown co-owner Michael Iavarone offered condolences to the Eight Belles’ people
Colonel John trainer Eoin Harty and co-owner Bill Casner came over to Jones’ barn, talked to him at length and finally Casner embraced him.
A woman exercise rider from another barn came up in tears and, unable to say a word, simply squeezed Jones’ hands.
“We convinced (Eight Belles) that half the people were here to see her,” said Jones, trying to force a smile. “We knew all the women came out to see her.”
Souvenir stands had sold out of Eight Belles buttons before the race was run. And stumping in Indiana the other day, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton talked about Eight Belles, “the other filly” making a name for herself.
Eight Belles was the first filly in the Derby in nine years and just the 39th — of 1,710 all-time starters — to run the race. Only three fillies — Regret (1915), Genuine Risk (1980) and Winning Colors (1988) had won the roses here.
Just a day earlier, Jones had won the Kentucky Oaks with Proud Spell. Although Eight Belles certainly would have been the favorite in that fillies-only race, her connections opted for the Derby. After all, she had won all four of her races in 2008 — although they all were against fillies — and she was bigger than many of the colts in the Derby.
There are some horseman who aren’t keen about fillies running against what often are more roughhousing males at the Derby.
Asked if this accident gave new credence to that old claim — that, in fact, it was too dangerous for fillies to go against the boys — track veterinarian Dr. Larry Bramlage discounted that:
“One injury is not an epidemic. As bad as it seems right now, it was one incident. Fillies race against colts on an intermittent basis and it’s not like we see this as routine. In fact, I’ve never seen it before.”
He also said he didn’t think a synthetic Polytrack — rather than Churchill Downs’ dirt — would have prevented this. Neither did Jones:”It’s not the track that did it on her today. They did a great job getting the track sealed (after Friday’s rains). The track was good.”
Jones said an autopsy would be performed, so he might get some understanding as to why this happened when, as he put it, “our horse wasn’t even bumped.”
He said Porter was decimated by the loss:
“He’s taking it pretty rough. We’re going to be criticized and second guessed. Somebody will come up with the idea the filly shouldn’t have been in there, but she never got bumped, She never did anything. She could have done this racing against Shetland Ponies. It wasn’t in the race where it happened.
“Still he’s going to second guess himself from now on. But like I told him, all the things that were going against her — that she’d never raced against the boys, that she had never raced past a mile and a sixteenth — she passed all those with flying colors. She’s ran the race of her life …. and went out a champion. She was…”
Jones began to choke on emotion and finally he just bowed his head in silence. Soon tears were rolling down his cheeks.
