Are you done with the sport as I am?? Eight Belles....Why??

Question

All I can say is that I hope she's racing green fields right now...

R.I.P. Eight Belles.

Answer 1

Why would you not want to watch this sport again.  Bad things happen in many sports, young men have been known to die while playing basket ball.  People are killed in many different sports do you stop watching them because of it?  I think what needs to be addressed here is why these horses are breaking their legs.  We all know they are feed well and taken good care of, so my question is why.

Answer 2

I'm not done with the sport.  I do think that the racing industry needs to make some drastic changes, however, such as not racing horses until they have reached full maturity (can start racing around 4 years old, have the Triple Crown for 5 year old horses), and incredibly strict breeding regulations.  I also think it would be a good idea for horses to run only one race every four weeks, just to give them a sufficient amount of time to rest, recover, and train before races.

Basically, I love horse racing, and would hate to see it go away...but at the same time, I hate to see things like this happen that probably could have been avoided quite easily.  It's not like the horses are being abused, or tortured, or mistreated.  Any horse competing in a stakes race is there because they love to run.  Horses that don't love to race, or don't love to run, will NOT be successful racehorses.  In fact, Eight Belles' jockey was trying quite hard to slow her down, and yet she was so excited that she kept running.  I doubt a horse that has been mistreated, or a horse that doesn't want to race would refuse to slow down, unless she spooked (and there is no evidence of her spooking).

Answer 3

People watch this stuff?

If I did watch it to begin with, I would be done now knowing how these horses are tortured to death

Answer 4

I was done with this "sport" long ago. It is cruel to take a horse who is to young and run it to death. If rich people want to watch their horses run, and poor people want to lose their money betting on them, let the horses at least mature enough, and get a slow enough start to give the horse a chance. Starting a horse at  2 and racing the h**l out of them leaves them broken and pretty much useless by the time they are 6. You go look up how many years a horse lives on average and tell me what a nice "sport" this is. Eight Belles is one of the lucky ones, she got out of the suffering before she had to spend her "golden" years having foal after foal so that her "racing" legacy could live on in the wallets of her owners.

Answer 5

Horse Racing is a very exciting and wonderful sport.  I have enjoyed it thoroughly in years past and consider it a much classier, interesting and entertaining diversion where gambling is involved, and say, vis-a-vis casino gambling where cards, dice, and roulette wheels are really just about the numbers but not the art, history, and science of horse racing.  Horse Racing is also a lot more exciting than many other diversions and is a great reason for people to get together and enjoy in the traditions and comraderie of it all.

That being said, I am very saddened by the euthanization of Eight Belles yesterday and I personally feel this is a wake up call that perhaps reforms are necessary.  Insiders will tell you how what happened to Eight Belles is not so uncommon.  Every day, two horses involved in horse racing in America get euthanized although they don't get the same media attention as the Kentucky Derby.

I am not giving up on horse racing and I don't think others should either.  Eliminating certain drugs in the sport would help as the horses are sometimes injected with performance-related things to keep them running despite their pain.  Tighter adherance to age rules would also help.  For example, putting yearlings in a race with 3 year olds might be likened to putting 1st graders in a race with 4th graders.  The 1st graders have younger and more brittle bones but they have the kind of spirit that makes them throw caution to the wind in an effort to win at all costs to gain the approval of onlookers, family, friends, etc.  The message is that maturity is important when it comes to certain kinds of racing sports and especially with horses.

So to summarize, I personally won't abandon the sport but I definately believe some reforms are needed to make it safer.  Horses are just different because of the way they are built and unfortunately, their legs, ankles and hooves are more vulnerable so euthanization versus eeking out their remaining days as crippled and in pain, sometimes is necessary.

Answer 6

i'm not a Horse Racing fan but this was horrible. My condolences to the poor animal her owners & her fans.

Answer 7

I've been watching the derby since I was a kid,but after barbaro and now Eight Belles.....I'm finished.I no longer have any interest in horse racing

Answer 8

I'm one and done.

I'm a football and basketball fan and read the sports section of the newspaper and listen to ESPN radio on a daily basis; therefore, I've kept tabs on horse racing.  I've read about some of the tragedies in horse racing and hadn't formed a true opinion of the sport (due to my love for animals vs. a friend who's fellow animal lover who loves horse racing, etc).  I recently met someone who owns horses and is a true horse lover and asked her about the sport...she said she was "in the middle"...just felt that the horses were raced at too young of an age, before their bones were fully developed.  

So, today I happened to be at a child's birthday party where they had the Kentucky Derby on in another room; I had read about Big Brown and his trainer in the newspaper so I was interested in the race and decided I'd watch my first horse racing event live on tv. I thought it was funny how people got incredibly dressed up and the women wore hats like the English.  But, I did enjoy watching the horses walk around the track and seeing their odds and purses, etc.

From the moment the gates opened, all I could think about was, "please, no one get hurt"...as the horses were racing, I ended up not caring who was leading...I just kept thinking, "please, no one get hurt".  I felt a sense of relief once the winner crossed the line and I thought, "thank god no one got hurt and this race is over", and turned away to engage in the kids' activities.  When I turned back to the t.v. I saw that a horse was down, and I thought, "oh ####"...from what I heard, when that happens, the horse usually ends up euthanized.  I had a very bad feeling and couldn't watch the tv, so I engaged in kids' activities...unfortunately, in my heart I knew it was bad, just judging by people standing around the t.v. and by looking at husband's face.

It's now midnight in Arizona, but that image of the filly who I now know as "Eight Belles", still burns in my mind and my heart remains unbelievably heavy...

Never again.

Answer 9

Yep I am done with it. To the poster who said people die playing basketball..They have a chance to play or not to play. These horses have no chance. And when they lose they are tossed out like a piece of garbage. Such a shame to take advantage of such a wonderful animal for the purpose of money and/or pleasure. The rich with their fu-fu hats have their money stuck so far up their a$$es that they have no idea or don't care what is going on with these horses. This needs to stop

Answer 10

i am completly done with the sport. and it has brought me closer to my horses. as much as i've cried for eight belles i can't imagine how much i would cry if one of my horses died!

The jocky did care though he was holding eight belles head when she was euthanized. after she was he was crying. he went to her stall and started balling.he stopped her from becoming in even more pain. he heard her ankles pop and tried to stop her from becoming even more injured

In loving memory of Eight Belles!!!!!

Answer 11

I'm not done watching the sport, but it is a horrible tragedy. She will be in my prayers tonight, hope someone's feeding her  horsey angel right now. =)

Answer 12

People just sit with their money and their stupid fluffy hats with bouncing sh*t coming out of the top and dont realize what the horses are being put through! I didnt make it to the television in time but when i found out this morning i was heartbroken. Its so sad how people put young horses in like that for MONEY. Its really depressing. I would be so mordified if my favorite horse on this planet was put into a big shindig like that and had to be put down for breaking to ankles.

I'll pray for Eight Bells.

Answer 13

I cant say im done forever but I am at the crossroads of how to approach this.  Barbaro broke my hear and this has torn it out with Eight Belles. I love animals and I love seeing them doing what they do at any level, but this sport HAS took make serious changes in training, age limits  and breeding habits to try and eliminate these injuries.  I need to see horse racing change for me to  get the feeling llike I used to see it.  Its going to take autopsy reports and replayed video for me to believe this wasnt an over zealous jocky who took her too far.  There are so many unanswered question that over the next few days that will determine wether or not I will ever watch Horse Racing again.  Right now my heart breaks for Eight Belles wishes this could all be a bad dream.  She ran her heart out and will forever be a Legend and hero in the hearts of all who saw her today, both in here peak and in her valley.  Lets just hope this loss isnt for naught and that some good may come out of her death.  Everything happens for a reason and perhaps she will be the guiding light in the research to insure this never happens again.  Whomever said that no one remembers 2nd place obviously didnt watch the Kentucky Derby on May 3rd 2008, because those that did will never forget the one we lost that day.  Rest In Peace sweet girl because legs dont break in heaven.

Answer 14

Probably, unless there are some changes. I personally think the race tracks are much too long. Imagine running a horse a little over a mile in 2 min. time. is it any wonder legs get broken. The racing commission needs to take a look into changing the track surface into some type of flexible turf to ease the pounding on those slender legs. Poor Eight Bells bones just snapped at the ankles, in other words, she was run beyond her means. Now another magnificent animal is gone. Shorten those da*n tracks or change the track surface and maybe that would stop the yearly tragic occurrences.

Answer 15

Of course trajedy happens in all sports. But it happens to adults who choose to be there.  These horses have no choice and run for humans' enjoyment.  Sad sad day.

Answer 16

I must admit that I am not interested in watching future horse races after this terrible tragedy.  There are too many leg fractures in race horses lately. It should be investigated. I also question if this jockey knew (and he had to) that he was riding a horse with two injured legs, but didn't give a d**n and kept her in the race anyway? Was he more interested in the money or the horse? The answer is obvious. Barbaro's jockey had the decency to pull him out of the race because he knew there was a leg injury. So, one must ask what is the deal with Eight Belles jockey?