Did Eight Bells run a race before a derby?

Question

I heard Eight Bells ran a race a few days before the big derby. Is this true? And could it have been a contributing factor to her death?

Answer 1

There's some people who are really confused because Eight Belles was entered in the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby.  People are confused because they don't realize that she scratched from the Kentucky Oaks (meaning she didn't run in that race).  They wanted to run her in the Derby, but they entered her in the Oaks just in case she got a really bad post position in the Derby.  So they entered both, drew their post positions for both, and then chose which to run in.  And they chose to run in the Derby instead of the Oaks.

Eight Belles was coming into the Derby off of 3 weeks rest, just like the other horses in the race.  Her last race was the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

Answer 2

I heard the horse was on steroids!

Answer 3

the news media reported she Broke her ankles..

That is not uncommon

but the message now is PETA has jumped in and is asking for the Jockey to be suspended..

claiming he knew 8bells was slowing down and used the whip..

Answer 4

Actually Eight Belles was supposed to run the day before in the Oaks but was so good they decided to put her in with the big boys.

She held her own!

Answer 5

She ran in 4 of them, to be exact, at different tracks and locations around the country. No, she was not on steroids- Kentucky state law prohibits the use of performance enhancing drugs in race horses. Excess racing and training is undoubtedly one factor in the filly's breakdown and death, yes, but so was the surface she was running on ( all her previous races were on Polytrack, whereas Churchill Downs has a DIRT track- a much harder racing surface) as well as the competition she was racing against ( she was running against colts for the first time in her life) but the biggest factor in her death is that like all horses of that age, she was JUST TOO YOUNG TO BE DOING THAT KIND OF WORK. She was a BABY, not a mature mare. Her bones were still soft and growing, and they just couldn't take any more pounding and stress.  That's why they shattered beyond repair. Tragically, Eight Belles has become nothing more than just one more statistic in a long list of them. This situation will not change until the people in charge of racing finally wake up and realize that these animals are just too young. Until that day comes, we are going to keep seeing accidents like this one. Sad, but true.

Answer 6

She ran a race on 4-6-2008 and on 03-16-2008 as well as several others, those two at Oaklawn Park. This website will tell you all her prior runs.

Answer 7

I knew some horse would go down before watching the race. It is very common.  It is a brutal sport. They should switch all of the tracks to synthetic as one effort.  This sport will continue, it is grandfathered in to America.  Over 70% of race horses are destroyed a year. We just saw on example on tele out of many.

Answer 8

The paramedic people lol said that she sprained her two front ankles, they dont know how, but she was fine at the beginning of the race, then started slowing down, then they euthanized her right there on the track :(

Answer 9

Her last race before the derby was on April 6th, a full month before the derby.  Sometimes accidents happen and no one is to blame.

Answer 10

04.6.2008 Fantasy (GII) - Oaklawn Park. That was her last race Before the derby. Go to kentuckyderby.com and click on eight belles and it will show all of her races.

Answer 11

Eight Belles racing schedule pre Kentuck Derby can be found http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2008/conten...

She was a young horse...3 year old with a strong record. <sigh> just :`{

Answer 12

Not since April.  Her trainer had another horse running in a race the day before the Derby, but it wasn't Eight Belles.