RIP New Joysey Jeff

[irishtrekker]

I know we have a candle list running in one of the other forums, but this article just broke my heart. Poor guy. Don't you think they would have just put him down on the track if the ambulance was taking so long? Or is there some reason to wait that I don't know about?

New Joysey Jeff euthanized at 3
By Jay Privman
Daily Racing Form

DEL MAR, Calif. -- The eventful, curious career of New Joysey Jeff came to a sudden, tragic, and ugly ending Monday morning at Del Mar during a workout on turf, when the 3-year-old stakes-class colt suffered multiple fractures in his left front leg that necessitated his euthanization soon after.

According to an official veterinarian report filed with the California Horse Racing Board by New Joysey Jeff's attending veterinarian, Dr. Ted Simpson, New Joysey Jeff had a "displaced and compound fracture" to his left front cannon bone and had fractures in that leg's sesamoid bones.

"With that kind of injury, it's exceedingly obvious" that there was no hope to save New Joysey Jeff, Simpson said later when reached by phone. "There's no way to treat an injury like that successfully because of the contamination" caused by the compound fracture, Simpson said.

New Joysey Jeff had become something of a cause celebre in recent weeks. On June 25 at Hollywood Park, while headed to an apparent victory in the Cinema Breeders' Cup Handicap, New Joysey Jeff suddenly ducked out, dislodging jockey Jose Valdivia Jr., who suffered a fractured collarbone.

New Joysey Jeff made his next and final start on July 19 at Del Mar, in the second division of the Oceanside Stakes. With Corey Nakatani replacing the injured Valdivia, New Joysey Jeff again tried to duck out at midstretch, but Nakatani stayed on. New Joysey Jeff finished third. He interfered with Obrigado and Porto Santo, but since they subsequently finished in front of New Joysey Jeff, there was no disqualification.

The antics in the Cinema and the Oceanside, however, caused New Joysey Jeff to be placed on the stewards' list. In order for him to race again, he would have to be approved by the stewards.

Monday's workout was an attempt to get New Joysey Jeff off the stewards' list. Mark Glatt, the trainer of New Joysey Jeff, watched the work from the frontside in the company of stewards Scott Chaney and George Slender.

Although there had been turf racing all weekend, turf works scheduled for Saturday were postponed by light rain and moved to Sunday. But light rain again on Sunday postponed scheduled turf works to Monday. It rained overnight Sunday into Monday, but six horses were scheduled to work over the grass on Monday morning.

New Joysey Jeff was the first one on the course, at 9:50 a.m. He began his work at the five-furlong pole and cruised to the top of the stretch while working well out from the rail, outside orange cones, known as dogs, that were placed past the middle of the course.

But just as he changed leads at the furlong pole, New Joysey Jeff broke down.

Nakatani pulled up New Joysey Jeff in less than 100 yards, but the colt's left leg was clearly damaged severely. Glatt raced from the box seats to New Joysey Jeff, but when he got there and saw the damage, he walked over to the outside rail, grabbed it, and his body went limp.

A lengthy process began that resulted in New Joysey Jeff waiting 19 minutes to be placed in the horse ambulance.

The horse ambulance, which was parked on the backside near the three-furlong pole, at first attempted to access the turf course at the half-mile pole. But it could not get up the incline there from the main track to the turf course. So, the horse ambulance was brought around the main track to the homestretch, where another attempt was made to access the turf course, this time at a gap just inside the furlong pole.

Again, however, the ambulance could not get from the main track to the turf course. "The main track was wet, and the turf was wet, and the ambulance kept slipping," said Leif Dickinson, Del Mar's turf course superintendent.

New Joysey Jeff's left front leg had been placed in a Kimzey splint, but because the ambulance could not get closer to him, New Joysey Jeff had to be walked from the spot where he had been pulled up to where the ambulance sat, a distance of about 60 yards. He hobbled to the ambulance, hopping on his right front leg, with his two rear legs pushing forward.

Glatt was at the barn minutes later, sitting in a chair, looking shaken.

"There's not much to say," Glatt said, his eyes red. "We already put him down."

The other five horses who were scheduled to work were not allowed on the course.

"The part of the turf where he broke down needed to be repaired," Dickinson said. "I wanted to repair it right, not quickly. There was no divot. The turf there was 'toupeed.' It was flipped back."

Based on the way the turf looked where New Joysey Jeff was injured, Dickinson said, "It's hard to tell if he took a bad step or slipped. It might have been a slip. The area where he was working was relatively pristine."

Dickinson maintained the turf was safe despite the wet weather.

"We really haven't had that much rain," he said. "It was a steady soaking. The turf is wet, but the profile," he said, referring to the base, "is relatively dry. It's such thick turf that it takes awhile to go down.

"I'm literally shaking now," Dickinson said. "This is hard for everyone involved."

New Joysey Jeff is the second horse to suffer a fatal injury on the turf this meet. On opening day, Blazing Sunset broke down in the same division of the Oceanside in which New Joysey Jeff ducked out.

This is absolutely horrible........and weird that he broke down on the grass....of course the West coast courses are hardly real turf courses.......what a shame...