Eight Belles?!?!?!?

Question

I was so devastaded last night when Eight Belles got hurt that I threw up. The really scary thing is that I had a dream a few nights before the race that my horse finished the race in second then went down, and had to be put down on the spot. I was horrified when this actually happened to the horse that I wanted to win! Does anyone know what happened? I know that her ankles both broke but does anyone know if she had complications before the race? My mom thinks that fillies should not be allowed to race. Does being a filly have anything to do with it? I just think that it is because they all start their horses too early while they are too young. Any one?

Answer 1

Being a female has nothing to do with it.  Being a young female or male does.

I do think it had everything to do with the fact that they bred her to break, and raced her before her bones were fully developed (she had two strikes against her already).

Btw, the term "filly" refers to a female horse under the age of 4.  It's not a term exclusive to female horses.  An older female is called a "mare."

Answer 2

I have always felt the Derby was too much, too soon. Some of these horses are not fully developed and the race ruins them. The distance is too much for this age group, The Belmont is even worse.  But money will out and so will owners egos.

Answer 3

It is simply a tragedy.  Considering how many races happen every day and how many accidents there are it is a relatively small percentage.  When it is a high profile race such as yesterday and Barbaro before then it seems like this kind of thing happens all the time.  

As  for what happened yesterday having something to do with Eight Belles being a filly.  I wouldnt think the s*x of the horse had anything to do with it.  She was a HUGE filly and i think her size had more of an effect than her s*x.  We had a big party with lots of race fans yesterdya and a big winner take all pool.  After Eight Belles collapsed and before news of her demise was announced  no one was smiling or cared who won the pool.  Poor girl  it was very sad.

Answer 4

Eight Belles was a bred for strong upper muscles like a lot of racehorses. This left her very vulnerable in her lower legs so that when she fell both of her cannon bones were broken (ankle area). Horses can't live without being able to stand and because it was immediately obvious that this had occurred (open fractures), she was euthanized on the field. If there was ANYTHING they could have done for her, they would have, even if it was just because of how much she is worth. As it is, Barbaro was put through way too much and should have been euthanized earlier.

It has nothing to do with her being a filly. She was larger and stockier than some of the males. Three fillies have actually won the Kentucky Derby (without complications!)

These racehorses are run very young, but that is what the requirements of the Triple Crown are - horses must be under 3 years old to qualify, well before their prime racing years.

Answer 5

I do not think that Eight Belles broke down because she was a filly. There was a similar question to this one asked yesterday and I'm repeating what I said there.  The reason that people correlate fillies with getting hurt is because whenever there's a race between the fillies and the colts, people pay more attention... since everyone's paying attention, if the filly breaks down, then it's big news.  There's no statistical correlation between fillies getting hurt when they run against the colts... fillies safely beat the colts every day around the world even though they rarely face the boys in the US.  You could argue that fillies run harder against the boys and they break legs because they overexert themselves.  You could argue that fillies have finer bones so they break easier.  But there's not enough statistical correlations that you could prove that.

I would agree with raising the racing age for horses.

We don't yet know what happened to Eight Belles to cause her injury.  They are performing an autopsy.  However, in my opinion, even if she had a heart problem or something like that which caused her to fall down, that shouldn't have caused her to break both of her ankles at the same time.  That part of it was a really freak accident that I have never seen before and hope never to see again.  She had no warning signs that she had any health conditions.  It could have been a sudden heart attack or it could have just been a bad stumble... either way, she broke her legs because of the really wierd way she landed on her front legs.

Answer 6

Ya, she broke both ankles. It was a freak accident.

I don't see why they can't race fillies? Perhaps they are not as strong as colts or something, but I think they should still be allowed to race.

As for age, I guess they could change the age limit, but it wasn't really her age that killed her. She just was galloping funny, tripped, and broke her ankles.

Answer 7

Why would you believe fillies are the only ones that shouldn't race??? Barbaro was not a filly. Several deaths before this one have happened to male horses, not fillies. They are all at risk.  I have been an avid racing fan for years and years, have gone to races, bet on them and watched on television. I absolutely love horses. But, I for one, have had enough of this cr*p. It happens way too often in the horseracing industry. It was hidiously obvious that Belles jockey was pushing her beyond her limits. I will never again watch or bet or even talk about horseracing. I decided that on Saturday night. This is not the Sport of Kings. It is the Sport of Greed.

Answer 8

it has nothing to do with her being a filly. but you are so right on the horses being way too young. thats what i have been telling so many people on here. i dont think that there were any complications before the race. im am so glad that someone else realises that they are just babies.