Title: Running on Heart
LaBella - May 5, 2008 06:07 PM (GMT)
I want to talk about Eight Bells.
I love horse racing, but I am the first to say that Thoroughbred horse racing has a huge problem. And that problem is the Triple Crown.
The triple crown has been pumped up to be races of all races, and so many horses are pointed to that race, before they are ready.
This is a race for three year old horses. No older, no younger, and at 3, most horses have more growth to do, their bone plates haven't fused, and their joints aren't ready for the stress that racing put on them.
Here in America, we start racing the horses at 2 years old, hoping to be able to qualify for the triple crown, the Kentucky Derby especially.
The stress this early racing puts on these young animals bones and joints is undeniable. More and more of these kings and queens are breaking down and dying for the entertainment of peasants.
Charismatic, Barabro, and now Eight Bells come to mind.
In Europe, the major races don't start until the horses are 4 years old. Their horses run until they are 9-10 years old.
Our horses typically have a racing career that lasts until they are 5 years old.
Huge difference.
Add to that the inbreeding of these lines. When you look at another great black filly, dead on the field.. She was bred to break down, her line was riddled with horses that had leg and hoof problems.
But they were fast, gloriously fast, so they were bred, and they were bred and they were bred, and that inbred fraility was passed on to their offspring, along with fantastic speed.
Combine that speed with spiderweb thin legs and an inherent weakness of the legs and hooves, we are going to see more and more young horses breaking down and dying on the track, because their bodies cannot handle the speed at that age.
Look at Eight Belle's pedigree.
I love horse racing, but I am the first to say that Thoroughbred horse racing has a huge problem. And that problem is the Triple Crown.
The triple crown has been pumped up to be races of all races, and so many horses are pointed to that race, before they are ready.
This is a race for three year old horses. No older, no younger, and at 3, most horses have more growth to do, their bone plates haven't fused, and their joints aren't ready for the stress that racing put on them.
Here in America, we start racing the horses at 2 years old, hoping to be able to qualify for the triple crown, the Kentucky Derby especially.
The stress this early racing puts on these young animals bones and joints is undeniable. More and more of these kings and queens are breaking down and dying for the entertainment of peasants.
Charismatic, Barabro, and now Eight Bells come to mind.
In Europe, the major races don't start until the horses are 4 years old. Their horses run until they are 9-10 years old.
Our horses typically have a racing career that lasts until they are 5 years old.
Huge difference.
Add to that the inbreeding of these lines. When you look at another great black filly, dead on the field.. She was bred to break down, her line was riddled with horses that had leg and hoof problems.
But they were fast, gloriously fast, so they were bred, and they were bred and they were bred, and that inbred fraility was passed on to their offspring, along with fantastic speed.
Combine that speed with spiderweb thin legs and an inherent weakness of the legs and hooves, we are going to see more and more young horses breaking down and dying on the track, because their bodies cannot handle the speed at that age.
Look at Eight Belle's pedigree.
| QUOTE |
| Eight Belles is a daughter of multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Unbridled's Song, the hero of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), Florida Derby (G1) and Wood Memorial S. (G2). Dispatched as the 7-2 favorite in the 1996 Kentucky Derby (G1), he was compromised by foot issues and wound up running in bar shoes, but still turned in a terrific performance to finish fifth |
She is tight bred Native Dancer, who was retired as a result of a recurring foot injury.
Looking at many of the most famous horses of this line, you see again and again, retired due to foot/leg injuries. Destroyed because of leg injuries. Again and again, and again.
Ruffian was a grand daughter of Native Dancer and Bold Ruler. Charismatic was a Bold Ruler/Native Dancer cross as well. Barbaro, descended from Native Dancer...
I grant, that this line is one of the best performing lines of racers, so there are more Native dancer bred horses then there are of some other lines, but the numbers of horses breaking down are disproportionate to the number racing, even when adjusted for numbers.
And these horses are going to keep breaking down, they are going to keep dying, until we stop demanding these horses race as babies and glorifying a race where immature horses run too far too fast for their bodies to handle.
Eight Bells ran the race of her life. She ran on heart. Heart is what held her up, heart is what sustained her, and heart is what brought her across the finish line.
She was a Thoroughbred, born to run, a daughter of kings and queens, and she ran. While her body betrayed her, she ran, because every fiber of her being dictated to her to run.
Run child of the wind, run, whispered through her with ever beat of her heart.
Run, run, run, run, with every pounding of her hooves.
Run for joy, run for pleasure, run because that is what you are. Run because your soul cries to you, because your heart will not let you do anything other than that.
Run and win, child of the wind.
Run!
And she did that, she ran, this daughter of the west wind. And when her body betrayed her, she STILL ran, showing not one sign of the inner conflict between heart and body, and her heart won, she crossed that finish line, and let the body's demands take over.
Heart stopping, the sight of this queen fallen on the field of her triumph, a broken doll in the sand. Heart wrenching, the extent of her injuries, that she was given peace right away.
Lower your heads and mourn the death of a Queen, this Daughter of the Wind. Close your eyes and shed a tear for her.
and listen...
Do you hear that far off into West? It is the pounding of her hooves as she strides triumphant in the skies. Run far and fast child of the west wind.
You will be remembered.
