Jesus I’m here and heard nothing about the two horses vanned off/euthanized. My heart is breaking for them.
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Oh wow, I had no idea about this young man & horse. I’m gutted and smiling all at the same time. Thank you for sharing.
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7 deaths so far.
At this point I’m just hoping they all come back safe & sound.
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Condolences to all of the connections- and to an unfortunate jockey with two losses in one day.
Freezing Point: Seventh horse dies at Churchill Downs in leadup to Kentucky Derby (msn.com)
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Heartbreaking. It’s been a rough week for racing and the Derby. I am not versed enough to know if this many fatalities is extraordinary, but it sure does feel so. On a positive note, there haven’t been this many scratches since like 2015. Like others have said, it sounds like the scratching is a move in the right direction of the horses scratched weren’t fit to run. Other than the Joseph scratches, it sounds like most were done in the best interest of the horse.
Semi-related: I can’t watch racing or the cross country phase or eventing live because of breakdowns and accidents like these. Not that they don’t happen in other disciplines, but so much more rarely. I just read the news before and after and watch the replays for the most part. One of my best friends competed at LRK3DE last week and I only watched the live feed of the cross country (stomach in knots) for the time it took for her to finish running and immediately closed the browser when she was done. I just don’t have the stomach to watch horses pull up and be vanned off, or worse.
ETA: really upsetting that in the time it took me to draft that post, another horse has died.
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This is not to blame Lanerie at all… but when a jockey has two fatalities in one day, you have to wonder what is wrong with the sport. As I have said, I don’t closely follow racing, but this week has been extremely disturbing with regards to deaths at the top of the sport. If this is what the upper echelons of racing are facing, then what does it mean for the entire industry?
The answer cannot be simple, as the deaths were on or after both dirt and turf races/workouts and aren’t all (that I can tell) directly linked to breakdowns.
I am just curious, because this week doesn’t feel at all like a “normal” normal Derby week to my naive self. What do you all think?
I’m no expert, but yes, it is extraordinary. For example, there was one fatality and one serious injury at Laurel the other week, and they shut down racing to examine the footing. Now, they (Laurel) have a history of issues going back a few years, where they lost something like 8 over the course of two or three months, which was considered a shocking amount.
So to loose that many in a week? Is horrifying. I have to wonder how much money plays into them feeling like they have to run rather than cancel–all the sponsorship hoopla that goes into it would be like cancelling the Super Bowl. It’s not like cancelling a normal week of races.
I feel like I should have watched the nice Cody’s Wish win and then have turned it off.
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I went to the Preakness several years ago. I wanted to arrive a race or two before the main event. I had already heard that a filly owned by the Jacksons had been euthanized earlier on the card. We got to the grounds, found our seats, and I watched Exaggerator win. No one broke down, and all I wanted to do was get out of there before anyone did. Pathetic, I know, but I am just not built for that stuff.
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I’m not there so obviously I don’t know all the details…but an article I just read said Code of Kings flipped in the paddock, then flipped again when they saddled him, then flipped again, was bleeding from the mouth, taken to Rood and Riddle and was euthanized. Am I the only one that thinks if the horse has already flipped over once, maybe DON’T saddle it?!
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Freezing Point’s owner tweeted and posted on Facebook. He doesn’t blame the track – said FP was bumped, thrown off balance and stepped wrong. Heartbreaking, because he obviously loved his horse (tons of fun photos from this week highlighting “Snowball.” 
)
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I can’t believe it! Patrick was just speaking and they interrupted for a tornado warning. Not even in KC !!@$#$%^#^&$%&4
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Same thing happened to Chloe’s Dream.
He was pinballed between horses, took a bad step.
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This was my first derby I watched since 2019, great race but honestly all I’m left feeling is sad with the loss of so many horses
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well, I had to leave just after the race. I had stupidly run out of dog food and chewy hasn’t delivered yet today! So now I am runnng it back.
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So close to hitting the trifecta! Kicking myself because yesterday my thought was, “why is everyone so hot on Forte? Mage was just as good as him in his last prep race.” But I wasn’t sold on Forte so I was perfectly happy to pass on Mage. Oh well.
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Did poor Corey Lanerie really both lose his derby ride on derby morning and have two horses break down today?
I had all my money on Two Phil’s 
He did great though.
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Ha. My DH hit the trifecta. It didn’t pay out great, so you’re not missing much!
Almost had the exacta here!
The $0.50 tri paid $491! Good enough for me.
