“Sudden death” of one of the fillies who ran in the Miss Preakness this afternoon.
A horrid start to this weekend’s race meet; a horrid continuation of this catastrophic season.
IMO, this type of dramatic verbiage is what is not needed.
Yes, it is tragic. Yes, horses die of cardiac/circulatory failure, which is what sounds like happened to this filly.
IMO… using words like horrid and catastrophic can help feed the public frenzy that horse racing is “bad” and kills horses.
I think we’ve all agreed that any introspection on the part of the racing industry is not a bad thing. I think we’ve also all agreed that horses die of catastrophic injuries whether they are on the track or not, no?
FWIW, if you’re into drama, Saratoga Breeze appeared to have a fairly catastrophic breakdown in the 2 at Gulfstream Park today. Maiden Claiming race for $50k.
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“Sudden death” happens in racing, and it happens in eventing and jumping during competition, and it happens to stallions mounting mares. It happens. It is not tragic; it is part of horse (and human) existence. I’ll give you sad, but never tragic unless the jockey also died or was horribly injured.
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Having seen one of these “sudden death” episodes in real life, there simply is no way to tell in advance that it is going to happen. Yes, it is tragic and I feel badly for the owner and trainer. On the bright side (if there is one) these things happen so quickly that the horse does not suffer–and that’s a good thing.
P.S. So lucky that the horse collapsed after passing the finish line. Could have been an absolutely horrible accident if this had happened during the race itself.
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I’ve seen a few 
Once in person at the 3 day event formerly known as Rolex. One on TV during one of the jump races held on the turf course at Saratoga (IIRC, might be misremembering the track).
Yes the death is tragic but no more or less than any other death. But, also this death needs to be taken in context.
BB is also correct. Good this happened after the wire with more minimal impact to the rest of the field. Race 2 at Gulfstream was not as lucky… a second horse went down (but did appear from TV but no confirmation that horse was ok). Sounds like a third horse jumped the jock that came off the second horse to go down.
I also often think, and no, this does not mean racing should be complacent, that for many of these horses that are injured and euthanized, the end is quick and humane. So many other of our equine friends are not so fortunate
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They do that in the pasture too.
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My friend has to euthanize a very promising young gelding this weekend as a result of a
friendly jostle on the pasture. He’s 2.
@Rackonteur, you’re just looking to be relevant this weekend. Try volunteering, it’s empowering.
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https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-rac…miss-preakness
Following the completion of the race, Charles Biggs’ Congrats Gal, trained by Cathal Lynch, collapsed from an apparent heart attack.
“Congrats Gal suffered sudden death after the eighth race today,” read a statement from The Stronach Group and Maryland Jockey Club. "The incident occurred after the wire. Commission veterinarians attended to the horse immediately. Our thoughts go out to all of the owners, trainers, and connections of Congrats Gal.
PS - TMares, condolences to your friend on the loss of her promising young gelding
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Wow. COTHers are more upset about the disqualification of a healthy, living colt in the Derby than the death of a filly in an under-card race.
Just … wow.
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Where do you get off judging me? You know nothing about me. You have no right to post what you did.
You are painting with a very broad brush there.
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Where do you get off judging me? You know nothing about me. You have no right to post what you did.
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No.
Racetrackers and racing fans are concerned about hysteria and negative press created by those who only pay attention when there’s a dramatic headline to be shared.
I have no beef with you OP and am not trying to make you feel guilty. A death is should never be swept under the rug and should always be taken seriously. But after the year racing has had, everyone is particularly sensitive to the “doom and gloom” vocabulary used to grab the general public’s attention.
Sudden deaths can happen anywhere-- in the pasture, in races, at horse shows. Yes, it’s a tragedy that it happened, even worse that folks had to witness it. But not to belittle the loss of this horse, compared to the tragedy racing had to deal with all winter, you are poking a raw wound when you say things like “tragic start to Preakness weekend” referring to the freak death of a single horse that was likely out of anyone’s control. Besides, there’s really not much anyone can say except it’s sad that it happened.
I hope this helps you realize we’re not monsters who only discuss order of finish.
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Thank you Texarkana. You said better what I tried to say.
It isn’t that we don’t care (I can only speak for myself obviously) because we do care. But we also care about the “messaging” that goes out to the general non-horse savvy public.
Dramatic words with respect to a controversial DQ is one thing. The horses themselves had no party to the DQ… yeah, Maximum Security does appear to have drifted out but he was running. The drama of the DQ is what happened after the fact.
Dramatic words about something that can happen to any horse, racing or not can serve to make a potentially controversial issue even more controversial.
IMO, it is up to us, the horse savvy to keep an even keep and state our opinions without relying on drama. There is no need to. We get it. Yup, tragic.
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I can speak only for myself here, but I find this comment condescending and offensive. I doubt the connections of this filly entertained any thoughts that she might go out and die today, but she did. Same as on April 17, 2009 when I legged up a rider on Zany did I ever imagine that an easy 3/8s breeze was going to turn into one of the most tragic events in the history of Finger Lakes Racetrack. Or as happened far too often over the years, seeing a slight toe drag at the walk was the early warning sign of what would become a fatal case of EPM. Or as my old boss shared last week, a description of her discovering a yearling colt out in the paddock early in the morning with a compound fracture of a tibia. Death is to be mourned, but just because one doesn’t hysterically flail about, build self-serving memorials, quote sappy poems, or go into isolation for thirty days doesn’t mean one lacks empathy. I have my own little compartment for that and if it doesn’t suit your criteria for sentimentality, then so be it. i don’t owe you any further explanations.
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On the Farm, 4/17/09 must have been a horrific day for you after legging up the rider on Zany 
So many “tragedies” because they are tragic but one is no worse or “better” than another. They’ll all sad. Doesn’t mean we should over emphasize one tragedy over another. In the bigger picture, this season is no more or less catastrophic than any other. Horses died. They died last year. They’ll die next year.
Oh, and to include me in the crowd of even daring to suggest I care more about a DQ than a death is pretty dang close to insulting :mad:
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Today there was a death at Santa Anita during training hours. A horse named Commander Coil fractured his shoulder and had to be put down. Before today, there had been 7000 workouts and starts without a breakdown.
I don’t know Marcelo Polanco but I have no reason to assume he knew that there was an issue. A fractured shoulder is pretty rare.
The point is that death happens. If there is going to be zero tolerance for accidental death in racing or otherwise, you might as well shut down the sport today and while we’re at it, stop breeding horses or trail riding and, for pity sake, forget about jumping over obstacles. There is simply no way to bring the risks down to zero so, if every death or injury is a a tragedy and a black eye for racing, we might as well just stop now.
Every death is sad. Every death is not tragic. When people take that position, there is no way equine sport can exist because horses are going to die. Incidentally, my avatar was a sweet wonderful beautiful colt. He was just starting his under saddle lessons when he spooked and ran into a fence, severely injuring his leg. He couldn’t be saved which unfortunately happens …and will happen again.
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I can remember that day just like it was yesterday…things people said and did, the horses involved, and just the sheer emotion of it all. When I speak of the little compartment where things like that are placed, it’s there because after the morning’s event, horses and staff were still back at the barn needing care and direction, plus the outfit had three entries that afternoon. As much as some people think the world should stop spinning at every tragedy, I’ve learned that it doesn’t.
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I hope they release the necropsy and toxicology results. It was hot yesterday and that was a fast race-- an underlying issue likely surfaced. It’s likely this was not the result of doping, but for transparency they must release the results. And if there’s anything untoward, start banning trainers and owners. If they are going to take a hard line with DQs, do it with fatalities too.
Another twofer day for Stronach . . .
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