Your thoughts?
Mess. I ran it back a couple of times as was DVRing it. From what I could tell, after loading willingly, horse went up, Jock grabbed the bars and got off his back then horse went down in front with legs splayed under the gate then started up again, starter let them go which IMO was wise as it gave the horse a place to go, no way they were going to get him settled enough to back out. Kind of surprised the front didn’t get knocked open, looked like the horse ran into it pretty hard as he was going down in front. Have seen them get knocked open which is a safety feature for horse and jockey. Whole episode took, maybe, 3 seconds. Quick reflexes by all.
Shockingly he broke upright with jock aboard and fired for a couple of furlongs before dropping back. I thought he’d come out upside down if at all. Sure he’s banged up but crossed the finish line and left the track under his own power. Think he beat a couple of horses.
Horse was washed out and agitated in the walk to the post. Announcers referred to it as “coiled tight as sprinters are”. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe a lead Pony might have settled him, who knows. But he was lucky as was the jockey and handlers who did not end up between Horse and gate, or under them. Really thought that horse was going over sideways with his head curled underneath until the starter hit the button and freed him.
Just saw a replay from another angle, they were using a heavy rug/tarpover his hindquarters in the gate, you can see it behind him as he broke. What I saw was from an overhead camera right over where his post position was and a ground level shot from the rail. It’s a technique used for horses that panic in the gate. Been around since they started using mechanized gates although MR says he invented it in the 70s. BS.
Oh MY, they just showed an enlarged overhead shot and that horse had somehow gotten his entire left hind leg hooked over the top of that heavy tarp/rug rug and had it caught over the tarp against the gate. Same position as a dog lifting it’s leg, you can see the whole hainch and almost to the hock. No wonder he looked to be in sheer panic and going over sideways he was on 3 legs with the other caught well above where it is designed to go… The spokesperson is pointing out nobody knew that and they only had a split second to react.
I have NEVER seen that before. Thank God he didn’t hook it over the divider instead of over and between the tarp and the divider.
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Thanks, findeight. I was listening to the commentators but I don’t have enough racing knowledge to put into words what actually happened. Even after the post-race interview with the steward(?) I didn’t really get it. You described it better than they did!
Overhead video from Twitter:
https://mobile.twitter.com/Racing_UK/status/1010549834065965056
Reported after the race that Harry Angel sustained a puncture wound.
Blindfolded to load too. Guess not all Europeans are pefectly behaved…
Do you feel PERfectly better now? :rolleyes:
Here’s another view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq8yOd_X418
I can’t believe the starter sent them off!
Cox said Harry Angel has a puncture wound to his hind leg.
I don’t think Harry Angel got his leg over the top of the blanket… the blanket is a “half” blanket that sits over the haunches and hangs down the side.
Harry Angel sounded like he was an *ss pretty much the entire time… pulled the LH while they were trying to reset the LF shoe while all the other horses had left the walking ring and were heading to the gate. The decision was to run HA without the LH shoe as the farrier was unable to get it reset (see above about HA’s behavior).
The gentlemen that lead the horse from the walking ring to the track to release the horse to get down to the gate looked to be fairly challenged as well… finally got HA released and he took off; I thought the jock was going to come off.
The horses were’t loaded until HA got down to the gate but they all had to circle for quite some time waiting for HA to arrive.
Break was a mess but I think the starter made the right decision based on the information he was provided in real time. HA needed both the blanket and the hood to get in the gate. I noticed in one of the replays the hood was on the ground in front of the horse just before the gate (normally the jock grabs the hood and tosses it behind him.) HA had a late fit and managed to get his LH up on the rail inside the gate that the assistant starter might stand on. This was information that was not available to the starter at the time of the start. The assistant starter indicated things were ok and the starter opened the gates. The stall fronts look to be larger than the ones on our gates (ie, the horse is slightly less visible in their gates). The regular front view of the gate you could see HA bouncing around but would have been very hard in real time to see he had only 3 legs on the ground.
Bad that HA was the public’s betting choice but I don’t think there was anything anyone could have done to avoid this other than just flat out scratch HA prior to the whole gate mess.
I think the starter sent them off as the assistant starter said ready and IMO needed to get all the horses out, including Harry Angel.
I observed this week that the starts tend to happen faster there than our starts where the starter might wait for everyone to settle down. I’ve seen other starts this week where the last horse was loaded and almost immediately the gate opened… they don’t always wait for everyone to settle down and be completely still.
From the Blood Horse today… https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/228212/harry-angel-not-certain-to-defend-july-cup-title
Harry Angel was lame coming off the track yesterday with a deep cut on his LH fetlock. Seems to be better today.
Vets has flushed and will be monitored for infection.
Trainer Clive Cox said they will be working on HA’s anxiety with the starting stalls.
Plans to defend HA’s title in the July Cup are on hold for the moment.
I watched the other video with the different angles, including the angle behind the gate. Thanks for posting that, mommy peanut.
Holy buck! He got a hind (RH??) kicked out over the top of the rear gate. Amazing he did not get hung up with that. I thought the rear gates were going to pop. Lucky no one but HA got injured with all that, legs and butt flying.
With the hood and the rug it seems HA must have a history with not liking to load. Are there UK rules that apply to horses that are difficult to load, or are that fractious? The horses on either side of him looked to be getting upset, can’t be fair to them?
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From the angles I saw, after he bucked his left hind leg was hung up INSIDE the starting gate. You can see it when the gates open and the horse tries to take off and stumbles out. I understand why the starter sent them off, avoiding a further catastrophic situation in the stall if the horse continued to freak like he was. Europe do not have starters in the boxes with the horses to help gain control (which is a problem!!). IMHO the jockey should’ve pulled the horse up as soon as they exited the gates.
I am sure this horse is now scared for life from that experience; adding on to the anxiety he’s had in the starting gate thus far. Hope the team seriously considers working on this before they even enter him again. They are putting a lot of people at risk with this; not just the jock and horse
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Jockey lost at least one iron and was in no position to try to stop an overamped and now panicked runner.
IMO even if starter had been aware, there was no way to extricate HA without opening his gate and with all the others rapidly getting upset, no way they were jyst going to stand to be unloaded a few at a time. And HAs only way out was forward with his leg hung up, that’s a real rock and a hardplace decision.
Perhaps they need to look at their gate procedures over there to avoid an embarrassing repeat on global TV.
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Clive Cox already stated that they planned to work on Harry Angel’s starting gate issues.
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There are no assistant starters in the gate. Started released the gate based on the best information he had at the time.
I watched all 5 days/6 races at Royal Ascot. The starter seemed to always send them on their way much quicker than starters here in the US.
HA was a pill from the saddling ring when he was not cooperative when the LF was reset causing the LH to come off. They were not able to get the LH reset at all and was stated HA would be running sans LH. A pill being led out to the racecourse. A pill requiring both the blanket (I heard it referred to earlier in the week as a Monty Roberts Blanket) and the head cover. Most horses I saw during the week if they needed anything at all, it was just one or the other (blanket or blinders) but not both.
A pill in the stall including getting his LH up on the gate rail which the Starter could not see. We could all see it after the race when the overhead footage was shown for the world to see. The video I saw from head on you could see HA being a pill but you couldn’t see what he did to himself. Yeah, when the gates opened you could see him just about fall on his face, stumbling badly.
Harry Angel surely does have gate issues which everyone acknowledged. The gate crew was expecting problems as they had the blanket and head cover ready for HA (didn’t appear to be a last minute change).
So very easy to Monday morning quarterback this incident when access to the overhead. I even heard an interview with what sounded like maybe a steward and they sounded like they saw no issues with what happened.
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I heard that same interview. I also watched all five days, and I agree with you that most horses did not need both the quarter-sheet-type blanket and a blindfold. Only a very few did, as well as gate crew linking arms to literally push the horse into the starting stall (including one whose tail they handed to the jockey so he could hold it while they pushed).
If a horse gets that upset about the gate I would expect it to be good enough to win in order to be worth all that stress. If not, I think I would find another job for it.
Harry Angel may start in the July Cup at Newmarket. The injury to the fetlock didn’t encroach in the joint and is healing faster than expected. Not for sure yet but maybe. Will his behavior improve? The jury is out on that one…
