Post by Christine on May 4, 2008 6:12:18 GMT -5
Filly’s Death Casts Shadow Over Big Brown’s Derby Victory
By JOE DRAPE
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Both came here chasing history and hinting at greatness. Big Brown was unbeaten and trying to become the first horse in 93 years to win the Kentucky Derby after three lifetime races. Eight Belles, a filly, had ticked off four victories, emboldening her owner to run her against the boys in America’s greatest horse race.
When Big Brown entered the stretch, seemingly finding a gear seen only on sci-fi rocket ships, the 157,000 here to celebrate thoroughbred racing, had their breath taken away by the big colt’s dazzling burst. When Eight Belles broke from the pack to give determined chase, many checked their programs, “Was that really the filly?”
Big Brown hit the wire nearly five lengths ahead of Eight Belles, but moments later, there was heartbreak. While Kent Desormeaux was galloping out Big Brown, Eight Belles fell.
She had fractured both of her front ankles, said the Derby’s on-call veterinarian, Dr. Larry Bramlage, and was euthanized on the racetrack.
“You could tell when Kent came back that he didn’t look like he just won the Kentucky Derby,” her trainer, Larry Jones, said. “He was a little bit solemn.”
Two years earlier, Barbaro’s breakdown in the Preakness and his death months later helped speed the adoption of synthetic racing surfaces, Eight Belles’s death is bound to raise new questions about the safety of traditional dirt tracks like Churchill’s and lead to second-guessing over whether a filly, which usually runs against other fillies, should have competed against colts.
“Fillies race against colts on an intermittent basis and it’s not like we see this as a routine,” Dr. Bramlage said. “In fact, I’ve never seen it before. I don’t think you can blame the injury on the racetrack or say that Polytrack would have prevented it. She was done with the race, we’re all the way through the end, and I don’t think the forces on her legs pulling up would be any different on dirt or artificial surface."
Questions are also bound to be raised about the makeup of the horses themselves, and whether commercial breeders focus too much on pedigrees that produce precocious and fast, but not necessarily sound, runners.
It was a sorrowful end note to what had been 2 minutes 1.82 seconds of scintillating horse racing, punctuated by the bravura performance of Big Brown. For two weeks, the colt’s trainer, Richard Dutrow Jr., had sounded like Muhammad Ali before a big fight as he predicted victory and scoffed at historical precedent. He even threatened to back up his boasts with a monster bet at the window, as he had done previously — winning $384,000 on his horse Saint Liam at the 2005 Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Against 19 rivals, Big Brown was trying to become the first horse since the filly Regret in 1915 to pull into Churchill Downs so lightly raced and leave a Derby champion. Big Brown had missed months of training because of sore hoofs in his front feet. He was breaking from the outside post, No. 20, which had produced only one winner in Kentucky Derby history — Clyde Van Dusen, in 1929.
None of it, however, had fazed Dutrow. Almost as soon as Big Brown burst from the starting gate, you could understand why. The big bay colt had run from the front in his previous victories, but on Saturday he and Desormeaux glided unhurriedly outside five other horses.
“He truly was in a gallop to the quarter pole,” Desormeaux said. “No distractions. No alterations in course. Just slide over.”
Ahead of him, Bob Black Jack, Cowboy Cal and Recapturetheglory were leading the charge, but were hardly setting a challenging pace as the half mile went in 1:11.04. In the clubhouse, Dutrow and Big Brown’s co-owner Michael Iavarone were puzzled.
“Is he too far back?” Iavarone asked Dutrow.
“He’s perfect,” Dutrow answered. It was only long after the race that Dutrow, hair mussed and shirt soaked with a celebratory beverage, acknowledged that he was, indeed, worried and had lied to his owner.
Desormeaux, however, was unconcerned as he sat atop a colt that repeatedly has given him goose bumps, something his previous Derby winners, Real Quiet in 1998 and Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000, had never been able to do.
“He was just galloping, floppy eared, off the bridle, cruising,” he said. “I just left him alone and let him canter until I needed him.”
As they entered the far turn, Desormeaux nudged Big Brown ever so slightly.
“Whoosh,” is how Desormeaux described his colt’s reaction.
It was too early, however, to unleash him. Desormeaux let Big Brown pull him like a water skier around the far turn. Cowboy Cal, Recapturetheglory, Cool Coal Man — all disappeared behind him. “Big Brown just kicked in the afterburners,” said Recapturetheglory’s rider, E. T. Baird.
Only Eight Belles had anything left in her tank to give chase. Her rider, Gabriel Saez, took aim at Big Brown and Desormeaux, and with a quarter-mile to run in the mile-and-a-quarter race got within two and a half lengths. Suddenly, however, Big Brown picked up speed and bounded away.
There was plenty of discussion afterward about whether Big Brown was talented enough to become the 12th Triple Crown champion. It has been 30 years since Affirmed swept the Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, and horsemen and horse lovers have been longing to crown another great champion.
Enough of them apparently thought Big Brown was ready to take the first step to immortality here and made him the better than 2-1 favorite. Their faith was rewarded with a $6.80 payoff for $2 bet to win. His owners, International Equine Acquisitions Holdings and Paul Pompa, made out well, too: They collected more than $1.4 million.
“He is the most talented horse I’ve ever been on,” said Desormeaux, who also is a Hall of Famer. “He’s intelligent. That’s the difference. He’ll stand like a statue if I ask him to.”
Dutrow, too, believes he has an extraordinary horse. He confessed that he did not go “all in” with a big bet as promised. Ultimately, he said he decided that winning the Derby on his first trip here was high stakes enough. Still, he did not apologize for his pre-race bombast.
“I said what I said because they asked me the questions because Big Brown was telling me how to answer,” he said. “I knew he was sitting on a big race.”
It is inevitable, however, that Big Brown’s effort will be dimmed by what befell Eight Belles. As the news of her demise made its way here, tears fell and the joy became more muted.
James Clemons, 58, a machine operator, was in line waiting to cash his $2 bet to place on Eight Belles, a ticket worth $10.60, when he heard about her death.
“Oh, man,” he said, beginning to choke up. “She’s one of the best fillies around. She showed she could run with the boys.”
For Jones and the grooms and exercise riders who had cared for Eight Belles, it was a devastating end to what had been a wonderful weekend.
Before they began the long walk to the paddock for the Derby, Jones told his staff to remember that they already had an experience of a lifetime. “As long as she comes back to the barn, we’ve had a good weekend,” he said.
Then Jones’s voice trailed off. Beneath the brim of his white cowboy hat, tears welled.
“She went out in glory,” he said, his voice breaking. “She went out a champion to us.”
By JOE DRAPE
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Both came here chasing history and hinting at greatness. Big Brown was unbeaten and trying to become the first horse in 93 years to win the Kentucky Derby after three lifetime races. Eight Belles, a filly, had ticked off four victories, emboldening her owner to run her against the boys in America’s greatest horse race.
When Big Brown entered the stretch, seemingly finding a gear seen only on sci-fi rocket ships, the 157,000 here to celebrate thoroughbred racing, had their breath taken away by the big colt’s dazzling burst. When Eight Belles broke from the pack to give determined chase, many checked their programs, “Was that really the filly?”
Big Brown hit the wire nearly five lengths ahead of Eight Belles, but moments later, there was heartbreak. While Kent Desormeaux was galloping out Big Brown, Eight Belles fell.
She had fractured both of her front ankles, said the Derby’s on-call veterinarian, Dr. Larry Bramlage, and was euthanized on the racetrack.
“You could tell when Kent came back that he didn’t look like he just won the Kentucky Derby,” her trainer, Larry Jones, said. “He was a little bit solemn.”
Two years earlier, Barbaro’s breakdown in the Preakness and his death months later helped speed the adoption of synthetic racing surfaces, Eight Belles’s death is bound to raise new questions about the safety of traditional dirt tracks like Churchill’s and lead to second-guessing over whether a filly, which usually runs against other fillies, should have competed against colts.
“Fillies race against colts on an intermittent basis and it’s not like we see this as a routine,” Dr. Bramlage said. “In fact, I’ve never seen it before. I don’t think you can blame the injury on the racetrack or say that Polytrack would have prevented it. She was done with the race, we’re all the way through the end, and I don’t think the forces on her legs pulling up would be any different on dirt or artificial surface."
Questions are also bound to be raised about the makeup of the horses themselves, and whether commercial breeders focus too much on pedigrees that produce precocious and fast, but not necessarily sound, runners.
It was a sorrowful end note to what had been 2 minutes 1.82 seconds of scintillating horse racing, punctuated by the bravura performance of Big Brown. For two weeks, the colt’s trainer, Richard Dutrow Jr., had sounded like Muhammad Ali before a big fight as he predicted victory and scoffed at historical precedent. He even threatened to back up his boasts with a monster bet at the window, as he had done previously — winning $384,000 on his horse Saint Liam at the 2005 Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Against 19 rivals, Big Brown was trying to become the first horse since the filly Regret in 1915 to pull into Churchill Downs so lightly raced and leave a Derby champion. Big Brown had missed months of training because of sore hoofs in his front feet. He was breaking from the outside post, No. 20, which had produced only one winner in Kentucky Derby history — Clyde Van Dusen, in 1929.
None of it, however, had fazed Dutrow. Almost as soon as Big Brown burst from the starting gate, you could understand why. The big bay colt had run from the front in his previous victories, but on Saturday he and Desormeaux glided unhurriedly outside five other horses.
“He truly was in a gallop to the quarter pole,” Desormeaux said. “No distractions. No alterations in course. Just slide over.”
Ahead of him, Bob Black Jack, Cowboy Cal and Recapturetheglory were leading the charge, but were hardly setting a challenging pace as the half mile went in 1:11.04. In the clubhouse, Dutrow and Big Brown’s co-owner Michael Iavarone were puzzled.
“Is he too far back?” Iavarone asked Dutrow.
“He’s perfect,” Dutrow answered. It was only long after the race that Dutrow, hair mussed and shirt soaked with a celebratory beverage, acknowledged that he was, indeed, worried and had lied to his owner.
Desormeaux, however, was unconcerned as he sat atop a colt that repeatedly has given him goose bumps, something his previous Derby winners, Real Quiet in 1998 and Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000, had never been able to do.
“He was just galloping, floppy eared, off the bridle, cruising,” he said. “I just left him alone and let him canter until I needed him.”
As they entered the far turn, Desormeaux nudged Big Brown ever so slightly.
“Whoosh,” is how Desormeaux described his colt’s reaction.
It was too early, however, to unleash him. Desormeaux let Big Brown pull him like a water skier around the far turn. Cowboy Cal, Recapturetheglory, Cool Coal Man — all disappeared behind him. “Big Brown just kicked in the afterburners,” said Recapturetheglory’s rider, E. T. Baird.
Only Eight Belles had anything left in her tank to give chase. Her rider, Gabriel Saez, took aim at Big Brown and Desormeaux, and with a quarter-mile to run in the mile-and-a-quarter race got within two and a half lengths. Suddenly, however, Big Brown picked up speed and bounded away.
There was plenty of discussion afterward about whether Big Brown was talented enough to become the 12th Triple Crown champion. It has been 30 years since Affirmed swept the Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, and horsemen and horse lovers have been longing to crown another great champion.
Enough of them apparently thought Big Brown was ready to take the first step to immortality here and made him the better than 2-1 favorite. Their faith was rewarded with a $6.80 payoff for $2 bet to win. His owners, International Equine Acquisitions Holdings and Paul Pompa, made out well, too: They collected more than $1.4 million.
“He is the most talented horse I’ve ever been on,” said Desormeaux, who also is a Hall of Famer. “He’s intelligent. That’s the difference. He’ll stand like a statue if I ask him to.”
Dutrow, too, believes he has an extraordinary horse. He confessed that he did not go “all in” with a big bet as promised. Ultimately, he said he decided that winning the Derby on his first trip here was high stakes enough. Still, he did not apologize for his pre-race bombast.
“I said what I said because they asked me the questions because Big Brown was telling me how to answer,” he said. “I knew he was sitting on a big race.”
It is inevitable, however, that Big Brown’s effort will be dimmed by what befell Eight Belles. As the news of her demise made its way here, tears fell and the joy became more muted.
James Clemons, 58, a machine operator, was in line waiting to cash his $2 bet to place on Eight Belles, a ticket worth $10.60, when he heard about her death.
“Oh, man,” he said, beginning to choke up. “She’s one of the best fillies around. She showed she could run with the boys.”
For Jones and the grooms and exercise riders who had cared for Eight Belles, it was a devastating end to what had been a wonderful weekend.
Before they began the long walk to the paddock for the Derby, Jones told his staff to remember that they already had an experience of a lifetime. “As long as she comes back to the barn, we’ve had a good weekend,” he said.
Then Jones’s voice trailed off. Beneath the brim of his white cowboy hat, tears welled.
“She went out in glory,” he said, his voice breaking. “She went out a champion to us.”
