Two horses dead in four races at Preakness

[D_BaldStockings]

[QUOTE=Shammy Davis;8677951]
If I misread or misunderstood your post, you have my sincerest apology. With 10 pages, it is very difficult to keep track of who is posting to what. That is why there is “reply with quote” link.

Your dead baby data threw me. I can barely remember when my children were conceived. I often don’t remember how many there are. Mrs Shammy insists they are all mine. They all call me dad, so I believe her. Please make connections with your responses, some of us are old and fending off dementia.

To quote Texarkana, “10 pages, really?”

Once again, you have my apology.[/QUOTE]

Well, you know the reason the link to the earlier post wasn’t there…
I am ‘mature’ myself and ahhh… I forgot.

Apology appreciated.

Warning, there will undoubtedly be a ‘next time’ I plant foot in mouth.

[Shammy_Davis]

[QUOTE=D_BaldStockings;8677988]
Well, you know the reason the link to the earlier post wasn’t there…
I am ‘mature’ myself . . .

Warning, there will undoubtedly be a ‘next time’ I plant foot in mouth.[/QUOTE]

I will try to remember that. No guarantees though. I put catsup on my work boots. Covers that awful muddy leather taste.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=D_BaldStockings;8677988]
Well, you know the reason the link to the earlier post wasn’t there…
I am ‘mature’ myself and ahhh… I forgot.

Apology appreciated.

Warning, there will undoubtedly be a ‘next time’ I plant foot in mouth.[/QUOTE]

Remember, Foot in Mouth Disorder obviously can affect some at any age.

[D_BaldStockings]

About starting horses young:

There are studies that show horses started young have longer careers, better bone remodeling in response to racing speeds, and fewer catastrophic injuries.

Running young horses is not new, has been done for at least 150 years plus, I think closer to 300 years but don’t want to find the data.

Filly refers to a female horse less than 5 years old.
If they were breeding quality Warmbloods in Europe, many of them would have been bred at 3 and again at 4. That is common approved practice.
There are a few breeders who admit to breeding 2 year olds, but not on forums (wonder why!).

Human athletes may ‘go pro’ in their late teens, even in demanding sports like UK style football, skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing…

These are athletes that began their practice at 5, 6, 8 years old.

Can young athletes be ‘ruined’ or seriously injured? Yes, whether human or animal.
But so can older athletes.

Training and conditioning is a vigilant art for experts. That sometimes they fail doesn’t make waiting for another year a safer choice.

[D_BaldStockings]

This COTH article is another discipline, but reads true for almost any horse endeavor. It is amusing to read only because it is so accurate of the ups and downs.

Sometimes it doesn’t work out as well as this one did.
http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/how-make-grand-prix-horse

[D_BaldStockings]

Youngest surfer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hgC-TJWNDw

-Better wait until he is 18 or 20 for skeletal maturity, right?

Wrong.

[JGHIRETIRE]

[QUOTE=D_BaldStockings;8677688]
Would basketball, football, baseball, tennis, etc. players be there without the money?
Would racecar drivers of all classes be there without purses?

Professional sport is professional sport.
Even the Olympics is open to professionals, now.

Without betting, the racing industry would need to follow the model used by other sports and get federal and state funding, instead. The current model pays the States part of the betting handle; unsurprisingly, States like that plan.
Is it the best possible model for horse racing? That’s a different and controversial discussion by itself.

Even Show Jumping puts up big purses -the top riders will not go to small potatoes venues and the sport pursues sponsorships, etc. just like other pro sports.
Depending on the prestige and value added to the HORSE as a possible sale, many chase points and wins in various horse sports offering little to no ‘money’ prizes. Hunters is not a moneyless discipline just because the prizes at shows are nil.

If chemistry could make winners out of losing horses, why breed? Why learn to actually train? Amazingly, many people are still breeding and honing their training skills.

Most adult humans have paying jobs: it is about the money. Money is not evil, it is how most people keep score. Do better get paid better.[/QUOTE]

Very well said.

[Shammy_Davis]

The report related to this has been presented.

http://www.theracingbiz.com/2016/07/12/maryland-commission-receives-reports-preakness-day-horse-deaths/

[Palm_Beach]

The problem with giving Azium in the feed is that horses don’t always gobble up the feed right away. He could have munched on it all night, finally finishing it up the following morning. So you may think you gave it at 3PM 2 days out, when actually the horse ate most of it at 4 AM the next day. Not that it caused his death.

[D_BaldStockings]

Having experienced a horse that I knew from birth drop dead in pasture in his early teens of a heart attack; no prior medical issues ever… (his dam outlived him chronologically by over a decade, his sire by 8 years…)

I don’t know what to say regarding Homeboykris’ post race loss.

As to Pramedya, there is both a history of leg issues and intermittent training, neither of which point to her being sound in the long term, or perhaps even truly fit for this particular race.
We don’t know her bone compression strength or precise striding/ground contact pattern, if she was stressed by the false start, overcompensated, tired and misstepped, had developed an irregular stride due to the prior fracture, etc. …

Condolences to their connections.
Life is a fragile gift that can be destroyed at any time; or miraculously survive against unimaginable odds.

[Palm_Beach]

[QUOTE=D_BaldStockings;8745912]
As to Pramedya, there is both a history of leg issues and intermittent training, neither of which point to her being sound in the long term, or perhaps even truly fit for this particular race.[/QUOTE]

I am professionally acquainted with Arnaud Delacour and can vouch that he does not send a horse to the post that is unfit for competition. If you bother to check her race record, you will see that she made her first start, and won, before she was chronologically 3 years old. She came back a month later to run 4th at Keeneland in allowance conditions. She was then given some time off, I would guess 4-6 months. That is not enough time for a serious injury to heal, so she either had a minor physical issue or they just wanted to take it slow and give her some time to grow up and mature. She then won an allowance race in FL, then running back in 90 days to finish 6th at Keeneland again. I’m not sure why the 90 day gap, could be any reason, it’s not documented to the best of my knowledge. But nothing in her record screams unsound to me. She is very well bred and I’m sure her connections handled her with great care due to her value as a potential broodmare. There is no reason to race a horse with her pedigree if it was not 100% sound.

[Where_sMyWhite]

Which begs if the linked article was read…

“Jockey [Daniel] Centeno [said] the horse was running fine,” the report noted, “changed to its left lead, continued to run well and went down when he started to make his move.”

Unlike Homeboykris, an old warhorse with 63 starts to his credit, the lightly raced Pramedya, trained by Arnaud Delacour, was making just the fifth start of her career. After making two starts as a three-year-old, in 2015, she had missed some nine months as a result of a fractured right front fetlock. She had also missed three months after her first 2016 start, in January, because she had bled following that start, Delacour told investigators.

And as a reminder…

Pramedya, a four-year-old filly, broke down during the running of the fourth race on Preakness day and was euthanized on the track on the recommendation of State Veterinarian Dr. Tom Jett. She suffered a severe open fracture of the left front above her ankle.

[Palm_Beach]

I stand corrected about the injury. And they all bleed.

[LaurieB]

[QUOTE=Palm Beach;8746789]
I stand corrected about the injury. And they all bleed.[/QUOTE]

No, they don’t.

[JJ_sLuckyTrain]

Two other relevant articles:

http://www.theracingbiz.com/2016/06/17/criticism-compassion-and-one-last-win-for-homeboykris/

http://www.paulickreport.com/horse-care-category/vet-topics/ask-vet-equine-heart-attacks-happen/

[D_BaldStockings]

[QUOTE=Palm Beach;8746317]
I am professionally acquainted with Arnaud Delacour and can vouch that he does not send a horse to the post that is unfit for competition. If you bother to check her race record, you will see that she made her first start, and won, before she was chronologically 3 years old. She came back a month later to run 4th at Keeneland in allowance conditions. She was then given some time off, I would guess 4-6 months. That is not enough time for a serious injury to heal, so she either had a minor physical issue or they just wanted to take it slow and give her some time to grow up and mature. She then won an allowance race in FL, then running back in 90 days to finish 6th at Keeneland again. I’m not sure why the 90 day gap, could be any reason, it’s not documented to the best of my knowledge. But nothing in her record screams unsound to me. She is very well bred and I’m sure her connections handled her with great care due to her value as a potential broodmare. There is no reason to race a horse with her pedigree if it was not 100% sound.[/QUOTE]

I wasn’t impugning the connections at all; simply stating that without a crystal ball it is incredibly difficult to KNOW a gleaming, willing horse putting in good works after re-hab and several injury related breaks in career is ‘ready’.

The temperament to try is also going to be the temperament to push on eagerly and break; because she can go that fast…

As I said, no one knows or can accurately predict. Same race, different circumstances, all would have been well.

Very sad for their loss.

[Where_sMyWhite]

[QUOTE=D_BaldStockings;8747209]
willing horse putting in good works after re-hab and several injury related breaks in career is ‘ready’.[/QUOTE]

Bearing in mind that the breaks, IMO, may not have even been related to the actual catastrophic injury.

[Palm_Beach]

It’s simply tragic. I don’t think the finger can be pointed at anyone.