Should have been scratched?

[Pedigree Ann]

Watching Fair Grounds races. In the second, a well-regarded (7/2) firster became upset behind the gate, backing up and sideways, then fell down hard on his side while the jock stepped off. Didn't see if the track vet even had a look at him; they put the jock up, shoved him in the gate, and dispatched the field. The faller broke poorly, made a bit of a move on the turn and flattened, looked a bit mentally distressed in the stretch. But should he have been in the race in the first place? Surely a horse who falls over needs to be thoroughly checked over to be certain it hasn't cracked a rib or something. Or am I making too much of the incident?

[Riot]

Falling in the dirt doesn't do much harm usually, especially if over onto the side. The vet should have been standing there watching the whole thing, if there was one behind the gate. Let's hope there was.

I don't like to see young horses pushed into the gate when they appear distressed, either, but I'm not the ones working with the individual horse in the morning, and knowing it's personality like the gate crew does.

Nearly always (99%) the best thing to do with any trained but novice horse is calmly push right on through. Better to load it into the gate (win that balk) let it break and have it run poorly, than let it's last memory be of being a whackadoodle. Taking that horse out of the race would have definitely enforced "gate scary upset lets act up when we get here" and probably worsened it for next time.

[Pedigree Ann]

Thanks for the reassurance. I hadn't seen that happen before, either live or on TV and I had to wonder. The colt had had a nice blow-out 4 days ago (a bullet :34 1/5) so he had a lot of backers. Should put Nachoordinaryguy on Stable watch - if he's been worked from the gate in the meantime, might want to put something on him, knowing what went down in this first race. And the odds might be better next out, too.

[PatCummings]

Is there EVER a time a vet is NOT at a gate load?

[Riot]

Originally Posted by merasmag

how would you even know who the vet is?

Khakis, windbreaker, no protection vest, the only one standing around not doing anything.