Do you think PETA would be interested?

[ninetoone]

the vet can't force Smith to ride can he?

[Rootdog1]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

That was absolutely sickening yesterday at Hollywood Park. Unfortunately I was there in person. They had to put the horse down on the track. Hell should be payed for that incident. Mike Smith was furious. He threw down his whip. He's lucky that he didn't get killed. The story going around, which I have heard from two different trainers is that Mike wanted to scratch the horse before the race because she didn't feel right, but the vet said the horse was fine. I think Mike Smith can tell when a horse is lame. He's only been riding for about 25 years. There should be a few people fired including the track vet, if in fact she refused to scratch the horse.

I heard this as well.

[10 pnt move up]

Originally Posted by ninetoone

the vet can't force Smith to ride can he?

no but even as someone metioned here Zito was furious at Bailey when he scratched a horse, and that was jerry freaking bailey not someone who struggles to get mounts.

I highly doubt anyone would admit to any of this.

[Rupert Pupkin]

I got some more information on the incident today. From what I heard, Mike Smith did not actually ask the vet to scratch the horse. He did ask the vet to take a look at the horse because he thought that the horse felt a little off. So he basically asked the vet her opinion. She said that she thought the horse looked alright.

You can't necessarily blame the vet for the incident. There are sore horses running every day and most of them don't break down. In addition, it's not an exact science and this horse may not have looked too bad. Sometimes the jockey can feel something that's very subtle that may not be visible to most observers.

[letswastemoney]

Originally Posted by cmfhb411

They are interested in promoting themselves on the biggest stage possible,
while only working in the path of least resistance. When something like the
Eight Belles incident takes place, that's right up their alley.
Ask any of them about a horse named Cadillac Cruiser who is no longer with us.
The only response you'll get other than "huh ?", will undoubtedly be
"no, I'm not aware of him. What happened ?".
If PETA really cared, they would have been all over that incident and been
just as enthusiastic about exposing what they hate about our game.

OH THAT'S RIGHT !!!! That requires work !

Allowing blogs on their site, from know-nothings who bitched about
Eight Bells running ( yeah that's right, the author claimed she raced )
for the 2nd consecutive day on 5/3/2008, doesn't require any work at all.

When you have a store, you don't advertise your smallest products. You advertise your flashiest items and hope they come in and buy the smaller stuff as well.

Now, PETA focusing on Eight Belles and ignoring the little horses might seem like bad logic, but if you think about if they win whatever they're trying to do, that effect would trickle down to all horses as well, so it makes sense. I don't see the problem on focusing on the most popular horse, as if they focused on some $5,000 claimer no one would care about their cause. But by focusing on Eight Belles, they are trying to make people look at all the racehorses in general, and they get that attention by focusing on the most famous one.

[sumitas]

I recall Brutally Frank was dropped way down his last race. That was a red flag. He broke down.

[NoChanceToDance]

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

God, I'll never forget that.....

... and you're right, Fallon did NOT want to ride him.

A ******* shame.

That wasn't the case at all. Fallon said he had took a couple of wrong steps on the way to the start, and thought it was better to be safe than sorry to get him checked over. All was fine with the horse at the start.

It was a horrible coincidence. I loved that horse, and am good friends with the girl who looked after him and rode him every morning (as you know). It was a terrible accident.

Everyone blamed Aidan that day, but it was no ones fault.

I do miss that little horse, though. I hate it when Derby day comes every year.