Eight Belles final resting place decided

Glimmerglass · August 11, 2020, 10:30pm

Not much more to add

Eight Belles to be interred at Derby museum
By BYRON KING
6/3/2008 - DRF

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Eight Belles, the 2008 Kentucky Derby runner-up who was euthanized after suffering a catastrophic breakdown moments after the race, will be interred at the Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs, the track announced Tuesday.

The Churchill Downs Foundation and Eight Belles’s owner, Rick Porter of Fox Hill Farm, also announced that each will contribute $25,000 to the Eight Belles Memorial Fund, established by Thoroughbred Charities of America, for continued research into racehorse injuries and toward the retraining of retired Thoroughbreds.

“We’re still grieving and struggling to accept her loss, but even in the midst of our sorrow, we are determined to see something positive come from her death,” Porter said in a release issued from Churchill Downs.

Churchill Downs further announced it is renaming the $150,000 La Troienne Stakes in honor of Eight Belles. A Grade 3 stakes race for 3-year-old fillies, it will continue to be run on the Kentucky Derby Day. The track also plans a ceremony on Kentucky Derby Day in 2009, in memory the Eight Belles.

The Kentucky Derby Museum will inter Eight Belles’s remains at the base of a tree to be planted in the her honor. The memorial will be located within the museum’s courtyard near the gravesites of four Kentucky Derby winners – Sunny’s Halo, Carry Back, Swaps and Broker’s Tip.

2006 Kentucky Derby Barbaro, who was euthanized Jan. 29, 2007, following complications from a breakdown in the 2006 Preakness, is scheduled to have his ashes interred at Churchill Downs in 2009, although within the track itself, not on the adjacent museum grounds.

An interment date for Eight Belles has not been determined.

fyi - La Troienne was born in France in 1926, shipped to the US and had a career record of 7 1-1-0. Her notoriety was from her role as an outstanding broodmare in Kentucky.

NMK · August 17, 2020, 4:46pm

That is wonderful. TCA really helps the rescues doing the “daily” jobs that no one hears about, taking them in, caring for them and finding new homes.

JSwan · August 17, 2020, 4:46pm

If any good can come out of her death, it would be in research for these injuries and retraining these great horses.

Thanks for posting that. :sadsmile:

Blueshadow · August 17, 2020, 4:48pm

My only concern about any of this news is that the stakes race honoring the great (not only broodmare, but source of great racing lines period) La Troienne will be renamed. I wish they’d managed to come up with a new race to honor Eight Belles which had not taken away from the memory of one of the most consistent female sources of “racing prowess” in the country (see “Horse of a Different Color” for the actual quote ;)).

Glimmerglass · August 17, 2020, 7:52pm

Interment ceremont slated for next month:

ESPN Aug 12 “Eight Bells to be interred Sept. 7 in Kentucky”

The Kentucky Derby Museum has set a date to memorialize Eight Belles. The popular filly will be interred at the museum in Louisville on Sept. 7.

Eight Belles suffered two broken ankles after finishing second to Big Brown in the 134th Kentucky Derby on May 3. She was euthanized on the track.

Eight Belles’ owner, Rick Porter, will unveil a plaque honoring the champion filly during the public ceremony. The plaque will be mounted under a magnolia tree where the filly’s remains will be interred.

Just looking back as its been a few months, still exceedingly sad as so much cautious yet strong promise in making the decision …

Pre-Derby Eight Belles - ESPN’s Jeannine Edwards

No sound; last workout April 30, Larry Jones up

SEPowell · August 17, 2020, 8:02pm

Everytime someone posts anything about her my first thought is what an amazing filly. She just took my breath away and then she was gone in a flash. I’m glad she won’t be forgotten for a long long time.

Glimmerglass · August 17, 2020, 8:06pm

This mention from the Times Union newspaper in advance of today’s Alabama Stakes with her stablemate, Proud Spell, who won the Kentucky Oaks and found success again in the Alabama

He wasn’t the only one hurting that sad day in the bluegrass state. Another filly in Jones’ barn named Proud Spell sensed the anguish and knew something was terribly wrong.

“She did,” Jones said softly, standing outside Proud Spell’s stall at the Spa stakes barn. “It was weird. When we came back and that horse did not come back, she was tore up, she really was. It was like she knew.”

Proud Spell and Eight Belles were a stall apart at Jones’ barn on the Churchill Downs backstretch. Were they friends? Who knows? They were two very special fillies. A trainer can only dream that a pair of horses as good as these two land in his barn at the same time.

The day before Eight Belles finished second to Big Brown in the Derby, Proud Spell won the Kentucky Oaks in a five-length romp.

And then a day later, triumph turned into tragedy. The mood at the barn in Kentucky was funeral-like in the early evening hours of Derby Day.

The following morning, it wasn’t any better for Jones. And it wasn’t any better for Proud Spell, who was moping around her stall all day long. Her mourning would go on for a few days more, too.

“She knew that Eight Belles wasn’t at the test barn,” Jones said. “She was totally depressed. Maybe she figured it out, maybe she could feel the vibes coming off us. But she knew something was wrong.”

Glimmerglass · August 17, 2020, 8:40pm

She was laid to rest Monday

Associated Press August 26, 2008 “Eight Belles laid to rest at Churchill Downs”

The remains of Eight Belles have been buried at Churchill Downs.

A wooden box containing the filly’s remains was buried at the Kentucky Derby Museum during a quiet ceremony Monday.

Eight Belles was the only filly to run in the 134th Kentucky Derby in May, finishing second to Big Brown. She was euthanized on the track after breaking two ankles.

Museum spokeswoman Wendy Treinen says Eight Belles was “interred without fanfare.”

There will be a public memorial service Sept. 7. A plaque will be dedicated under a magnolia tree where the thoroughbred’s remains were interred.

Glimmerglass · August 17, 2020, 8:42pm

Just a bit more and some clarifications:

Courier-Journal Aug 27, 2008

Excerpt

A public ceremony including Porter and trainer Larry Jones will take place in the museum garden at 2 p.m. Sept. 7, when a memorial plaque will be unveiled. In the event of inclement weather, the ceremony would be held inside the museum.

No museum admission will be required for the ceremony.

Ferguson said a private burial had been planned for Friday, but it was moved up to Monday when local landscapers were available to assist.

Museum spokeswoman Wendy Treinen assisted Ferguson in placing the walnut box into the ground. On its top rested a halter plate with Eight Belles’ name and a plaque including the dates she was foaled and died.

She is the first horse that didn’t win the 134-year-old classic to be buried in the museum’s garden. Besides Sunny’s Halo, her ashes join Derby winners Broker’s Tip, Swaps and Carry Back.

The museum received an e-mail from an overseas fan asking if the Sept. 7 service will be Webcast. It won’t, Treinen said, but it will be put on YouTube afterward for anyone who can’t attend.

Image: (credit KYD Museum) the walnut box holding her ashes