[click image].
Baffert has once again been rewarded for being sweet to her.
For my part, I decided I just couldn't take getting het up again about the risks of lethal injury. So now I can go off and look at the race since it seems nobody needed euthanizing on the track today. I am going to try to take the same approach for the Belmont. Truly, it's best this way.
.
And, well, not that spectacular an outing. I really hate it when everyone looks this tired at the last turn. I feel they should be at full steam as they're crossing the finish line, and I really haven't been seeing that lately. When the track is a flippin' bog like at Churchill Downs the other day, you can sorta see it, but otherwise, pfeh, how classy is it to win the Preakness while barely able to pick up a foot for the next stride?
.
I turned on the TV just as they were loading the starting gate - I was surprised at how soon they took off after the last horse entered the gate, but then maybe that's normal - I don't usually catch the horse races.
ReplyDeleteNot a very exciting race indeed.
Yes, they ALWAYS take off a split second after the last horse is loaded because their time in the gate is THE most dangerous part of the race. They're so pumped up and such neon brains, the slightest little thing can totally send them berserk in the gate.
ReplyDeleteThat's why, counterintuitively, they hate getting the low post positions. Their horses have the longest time in the gate, AND fast breaks from those further out can cut in and block them from taking the lead. A horse that can win from the #1 post position has to be perfectly calm in the gate, faster than God out the gate, and able to maintain that speed in order to win. Or let everybody pass, cut to the outside and then pour on the gas like a turbo jet.
ReplyDeletethe slightest little thing can totally send them berserk in the gate
ReplyDeleteYes, I've seen videos of that - out of the gate, horse takes 90 degree turn cutting of the other horses, major pile-up!
Yuh, and INSIDE it, when they go batshit, they are capable of breaking themselves, the gate, their jockeys and each other. One going batshit usually sets off others. Some of these horses are worth millions and millions of dollars, just on their bloodlines, but also in track earnings and a couple of decades' worth of stud fees, so the tracks take EVERY precaution against this, INCLUDING banning horses they know are habitual menaces in the gate. They figure this out pretty early in a horse's career, before even they've been in a race, and that gets rid of the head cases, the KNOWN offenders, but just about all of them will crack in there, given the right givens. Usually the CALM thoroughbreds aren't fast enough to be in a race. It's rare to get that gorgeous blend of calm and talented, ESPECIALLY with colts and stallions. OMG! They can be Godzilla's rivals. Yes. They. Can.
ReplyDeleteMy first time on a horse was at summer camp. Age 12. I picked the biggest horse to ride. Trail horse mind you. He had to be at the back of the line since if a horse got too close behind him he would try to kick it.
ReplyDeleteWe were about a half hour from the barn when we had to stop to collect a fellow camper whose horse decided to wander off on its own.
Not being knowledgeable about horses I let my reigns drop and the horse was grazing on the grass in the trail. Suddenly something startled him and he reared up, front legs thrashing in the air. I was thrown off backwards as he bolted off through the woods, my foot firmly trapped in the stirrup. I was dragged for about 100 yards, bouncing over fallen tree trunks and what-have-you.
I was more pissed than hurt when I finally freed my foot and I walked up to him, grabbed the reigns and literally punched him in the nose!
It worked! He respected me after that and I rode him at least twice a day for the two weeks I was there. Tended to him in the stable, brushing him and feeding him treats.
I ended up being chosen as one of the top 10 horsemen in the camp for a special overnight horse ride adventure.
He had one little quirk though, to show he was still boss, or at least wanted me to think so. On the way back to the barn, as we got close and all the horses wanted to run home, he would get in real close to a tree with a low overhanging branch, I had to lay down tight to his neck to avoid being brushed off.
Hosses ain't just for rydyn, racyn and Luvyn....
ReplyDelete