Preventing Disaster

"To the chapel let us wander. Greet the parting sun once more. Ring and kneel and worship yonder. Trusting God as heretofore." --Goethe

Horse racing's method of catastrophic injury prevention above--"trusting god". I was interested to see the infamous former Kansas State Vet Bryce Peckam just in back of the Derby gate with his recognizable wide brimmed hat and probably pipe in mouth. This was the vet that scratched my Aylward back in 2003 the morning of his next race after a win due to a slight under the skin wire perforation on his fetlock. Peckam, pressing on the area and the horse obviously slightly ouchy, claimed the horse was lame. We never got into another race during the meet.

And so, I have first hand experience with the KY State Vet who, if anything is overly cautious. Yet all these vet are limited to touchy feely pre-race inspections. And-------here we have ArchArchArch in the KY Derby and how many strides from total disaster was that horse?

Since 2007--Barbaro, 8Belles, War Pass double fracturing as he crossed the wire in the Wood, Dunkirk fracturing as he crossed the finish line of the Belmont, and in 2011 AAA. Think that covers every year except one.

And so the Q, how can the sport possibly survive in this scenario. Sure we've been lucky that 3 out of 5 of these were near misses, although I suspect Plecher's filly that won the Belmont--forgot her name--probably was right in there with them. For a sport that absolutely has to prevent this to the extent possible---

They mostly start as condylar developing stress fractures--the exact area of the horse's leg that has natural heat and thus it's difficult to tell by feel if there's an injury there unless it's already severe. Why any horse would be permitted into the Derby without having this area x-rayed and scanned and those inspected pre-race by the State Vet is beyond comprehension.

Additionally, why are we without requirements that TC trainers record their training and that State Vet examines these records for particular attention to the sort of unusual training that AAA received (see last post).

And yet, what we have is that I have yet to read a single word of concern about AAA.

Training:
Mon. 5/2 Off
Tues 5/3: another nice riderless full speed chase scene were the spurts last until the older horse wheels himself out of it--several 1.5 spurts. Tack: 3 x trot-gallop up and down the hill. Have re-familiarized the horse we're were heading. Weather willing we should be speeding up the gallops by next week.