Do you think churchill should limit the field in the derby?

Question

when we watch the derby we are so worried that a horse will break down during the race. can you imagine the pile up of broken down horses and the lives of horses and jockeys at risk. i think that should be a big issue.

Answer 1

Yes it will happen down the backstretch sooner or later. If the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place horse falls there will be a catastrophe plus the dash to the first turn is very high risk...

Watch the replay of the derby on ESPN and you will see Jockey Mike Smith fighting and pulling up on the 19 horse "Gayego" to slow down. Gayego almost clipped the heels of another horse before the first turn....

Get rid of the Auxiliary gate and limit the field to 14 horses...

The excitement will be the same

Answer 2

I have seen them before And being there

It happens one horse clips heels with another then bam

But it's the risks of the sport

Like any other there will be accidents

We hate seeing it happen

But about a boxer that dies or dog racing ?

Or even Skiing or Car Racing big piles ups there?

I HOPE it the race goes well

Answer 3

yes, 20

Answer 4

The field IS limited to 20.  Many people in the horse racing industry believe this is too large, but Denis of Cork, the third place finisher almost didn't make it in this year, so it's hard to know where or how to draw the line.  In 134 runnings of the Kentucky derby, Eight Belles is the only fatality, so I think you are blowing the risk out of proportion.

Answer 5

Agree with bwj - the limit should be 20.

Answer 6

Absolutely. A limit of 14 like in the Breeder's Cup is reasonable. We are lucky that Eight Belles did not go down a few seconds earlier when she was surrounded by other horses. Realquit makes a good point that if a horse goes down leading 19 others into the first turn we will have a huge pile-up with multiple casualties and fatalities of both horses and jockeys.

There are just too many horses in the Derby that do not belong and just get in the way of the good ones and increase the danger. The argument that horses like Denis of Cork would not have gotten in would not be true if they switched to a better qualifying system than the ridiculous one they now. The current earnings system counts money won in 2YO sprints when the Derby is a distance race for 3YOs.

Randy Moss has proposed a good system where placing in certain Grade 1 Derby preps (Fla Derby, SA Derby, etc) gets you in as well as winning other certain other Gr 2 or 3s. The horse must have at least run well at a mile or over as a 3YO.  Denis of Cork's Southwest win would have gotten him in under this system.

We need a change before a terrible accident forces one.