An unfortunate mishap but if a horse gets loose with the racing hood on, this can happen.
W O W !!! The last crash shocked me the most! I’m surprised the horse seemed fine.
Yikes, Horse seems off after the first tumble over the rail. Hope he is ok.
Even WITH blinkers, this shouldn’t happen. That horse ran straight into the shed.
I’m curious what our resident racing experts have to say about this. Lots of discussion on FB that was largely totally ridiculous (as it often is.)
Horse looks to be wearing a hood with these:
http://www.jacksmfg.com/Blinker-Replacement-Cup,2239.html?b=d*6124
Blinkers*
oh poor guy! :eek: :no:
[QUOTE=Simkie;7946771]
Even WITH blinkers, this shouldn’t happen. That horse ran straight into the shed.
I’m curious what our resident racing experts have to say about this. Lots of discussion on FB that was largely totally ridiculous (as it often is.)
Horse looks to be wearing a hood with these:
http://www.jacksmfg.com/Blinker-Replacement-Cup,2239.html?b=d*6124[/QUOTE]
I suspect the horse is wearing full cup blinkers, not the see through ones you linked to. He didn’t even HESITATE before running into everything. So scary.
I can’t imagine ANY racing jurisdiction in the world would allow a horse to race with two blind cups.
[QUOTE=Simkie;7946880]
I can’t imagine ANY racing jurisdiction in the world would allow a horse to race with two blind cups.[/QUOTE]
Maybe it was just to get him in the chute and then they take them off?
[QUOTE=Tiffani B;7946898]
Maybe it was just to get him in the chute and then they take them off?[/QUOTE]
Who would?
That’s not the US and there is no starter at the head of the horse in the gate. You think the jock is going to reach up there and pull the hood off the horse?
Heartbreaking to watch. 
[QUOTE=Simkie;7946999]
Who would?
That’s not the US and there is no starter at the head of the horse in the gate. You think the jock is going to reach up there and pull the hood off the horse?[/QUOTE]
I couldn’t tell if there was someone who could take them off or not. The video isn’t really that clear. You can see people in some of the other chutes so it’s possible. In fact the jockey isn’t even ON the horse while they’re trying to get it in the gate so who knows what their strategy was.
I can’t imagine anyone would try to run a horse in full cup blinders, but that’s what I believe he was wearing due to his complete lack of hesitation at hitting ANYTHING. That being my belief, either someone had to remove them or the race was being run without any kind of oversight.
I don’t doubt the horse is running blind. I am dubious that anyone would be idiotic enough to put a hood with two blind cups on a horse to load it in a gate in a race, or to run it blind, and that any racing jurisdiction anywhere in the world would allow that.
It may be that the hood slipped during the gate fracas, covering the eyes, or that the horse hit his head hard enough to disrupt vision, or that he’s got a condition necessitating the fully closed cups that means he can’t see as well as he should (uveitis perhaps?) and can’t actually see through the transparent cups, even though he should be able to.
It’s pretty clear from the video that there is not a starter at the head of any horse that’s loaded in that gate.
All of this is why I’m curious to hear from our resident racing experts.
People always do stupid things with horses. Unfortunately it’s usually the horse who pays for it…
Poor horse. When I blow up the video to full screen and pause at 0:43 (when the horse turns around after crashing through the wall) it sure looks like he has full blinkers / blinders on.
My guess this is somewhere in the middle east based on people’s clothing.
No way in hell the horse purposely has both eyes covered for a race. Maybe the blinkers slid sideways or they put a blindfold underneath to load in the gate but they were not going to run him blind. Zero chance. Google Quality Road’s breeder’s cup. He could have easily ended up running blind if an assistant starter hadn’t been so tenacious.
I suspect they had him blind to bring into the starting gate and then would take them off there.
[QUOTE=Mike Matson;7947461]
I suspect they had him blind to bring into the starting gate and then would take them off there.[/QUOTE]
But, Mike, HOW?? If that’s a hood with two blind cups, how are they going to remove it once the horse is in the gate and the jock is up? There is no starter at the head of the horse as in the US.
Just doesn’t pass the sniff test for me.
Laurie, I am glad you weighed in 
[QUOTE=Simkie;7947473]
But, Mike, HOW?? If that’s a hood with two blind cups, how are they going to remove it once the horse is in the gate and the jock is up? There is no starter at the head of the horse as in the US.
Just doesn’t pass the sniff test for me.
Laurie, I am glad you weighed in :)[/QUOTE]
Whoever leads the horse in takes them off. He wasn’t all the way in the gate when he got away from the handler. If I had to guess the blinkers got knocked sideways when he went nuts, covering his eyes as opposed to being blindfolded however.
Here is Quality Road in his blindfold.
It looks like he was blindfolded to enter the gate, had trouble on the way in, panicked when he made contact with the gate on the way in, and then broke loose. Poor guy. I’m thinking at minimum a shoulder injury from the initial flip over the rain.
Laurierace… It seems SO dangerous to have a horse blindfolded on a track for any amount of time. Why would a horse so resistant to loading be allowed to have a gate card? From the sand and surroundings as well as spectator clothing, it appears this is perhaps an Arab nation track. I would think “different rules” but Quality Road was blindfolded here, too.
