I was devastated when I saw Pine Island go down in the BC Distaff. My heart goes out to her owners and her trainer who I’m sure are in a lot of pain over the loss of this mare.
Yeah that was horrible, I’d watched her in the post parade and noticed how nicely mannered she was, really pretty too being very leggy and long. She kinda had a funny running style though, in her past races she seemed to run really “flat”. Maybe that caused her to trip up on her long legs? I dunno, but it was very sad!
It was awful to have two top fillies break down like that, especially after Barbaro in the Preakness. You could tell it really affected Edgar Prado. I saw Pine Island stumble but thought she’d just lost the jockey. I got worried when she didn’t show up running with the field on the other side of the turn. :-/ At least one of the two will be ok…
I was sick watching it, though as soon as he saw the camera angles they were showing, Hubby knew the poor thing was done. I noticed later on all the coverage was of aerial shots. Its such a sad thing, especially when they say she had such a great personality, as opposed to being a freakish TB.
I didn’t even realized until they pointed it out, I noticed something was wrong with Fleet Indian but Pine Island ran her normal style. I don’t know if she tripped and the fall caused the ankle to break or if the ankle broke and then she fell.
I still paused it and played it in slow motion and after she rolls onto her feet you can see the ankle snap at a 90 degree angle, I’m thinking it was the rolling that caused it, she went down awkwardly and rolled with her legs under her so I imagine it could have happened then.
Either way this is a tragedy, I also heard she was a really nice mare, no one thought anything of her at first until her last two starts. She was a long legged gangly mare who toed in but she was special to everyone in the barn, she was the barn pet.
Looking at her she kind of reminded me of Ruffian, big and beautiful.
It looked like she was a really well-mannered and well-loved mare.
I was a bit annoyed by all the commentators bugging random people (Round Pond’s owner, Michael Matz, etc) about what they thought about the horses going down. I mean, sure, it’d be rude of them (the other connections) to just ignore what had happened and be all excited over winning, but to be like “yeah, so you won, whatever, what do you think about the horse(s) that broke down/died?” (When they didn’t really have anything to say, naturally, other than Michael Matz’s classy “this really sucks when it happens in the industry, and I know what they’re going through and sympathize with them” speech)
TV announcer/commentator people bug me sometimes.
R.I.P. Pine Island.
A few of those commentors really bugged me, one guy, I don’t know his name but he was grey haired and thin and made a lot of smart aleck comments. Anyway, that guy was commenting with Jerry Bailey and Bailey (who was great, very informative and had great comments) kept making comments and this smart aleck guy kept saying the dumbest things…like when Bailey had a little speech about Invasor I think and all of sudden this idiot goes, and yeah there’s Perfect Drift who’s 7yrs old and we had a 7yr old win today! He kept doing annoying things like that when I just wanted to hear more from Bailey-“Thin Guy” obviously didn’t know much!
Just a small point of pride, now that Invasor has been mentioned. The colt’s Uruguyan-bred. 
Not exactly the country you think of when it comes to thoroughbreds.
N.B. Cat’s parents were both born in Uruguay.
I didn’t get a chance to see the distaff, only the classic. It wasn’t until I read this thread that I realized what happened to that poor filly. It’s horrible to see this happen on the track, and my heart goes out to the owners.
On a side note, Invasor made an incredible dive for the finish line. Those last few second of the race were very exciting. Where is Uruguay? 
Poor Pine Island she was a very classy filly and was doing so well! It was very upsetting to see her break down like that.
I was horrified when I seen her go down… I knew from the way she came back up and the fleeting glimpse of her that her leg was not right & that it was not going to be good news…
My heart goes out the Shug & the Phippes…
on a side note… Lisa…
Uruguay is a country located in southern South America. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, the Uruguay River to the west, the estuary of the RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, with Argentina on the other bank of both, and finally the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. About half of its people live in the capital and largest city, Montevideo. The nation is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname, and is the most politically and economically stable.
I didn’t know much about her, but what a fine, gorgeous girl. She will surely be missed. 
I was wondering, does anyone think its the bad luck of the Distaff or something? Or that the race is too long? I am still drawn back to the beautiful Go Fo Wand, who broke down in the Distaff. I am drawn back to those pictures in my Dad’s Sports Illustrated that were just so sad and heartwrenching, that I gave up watching horses for a while.
I certainly wouldn’t say the problem is with the race being too long. I mean, the Classic is longer.
Instead I’d say the problem is the same as with any race, when you take a not even mostly mature animal and ask it to run full speed on joints and bones that aren’t fused or finished growing, you take a huge risk in whether or not that horse’ll stay sound. Obviously some horses do better with it than others, as evidenced by the number of 5yo+ horses who raced this year. I’d imagine Pine Island’s big, lanky frame was just extra prone to stress due to her physical confirmation.
Edit: I didn’t see Go For Wand, but I did read the Ruffian book when I was growing up. Then I saw that they’re making a movie for TV in I think March? I’m not sure that’s a movie I want to see.
The Ruffian movies is slated for Summer '07… and just from the previews… a definate tear jerker…
It also didn’t help that when she ran, she was very heavy on her forehand which adds strain and makes it a lot easier for her to trip.
I think part of the problem to is we are just breeding weaker horses, and/or we’re working them to much so their joints are worn down as it is so when they race and go all out their body just can’t handle it.
I’ve been thinking for a long time that the thoroughbred today in america is pretty, fast, and delicate. Sure we had those in the past also but they were hardier, maybe because they raced fresh and trained half of what they do now?
I’ve been wondering, over in Europe and Australia, how common is it for racehorses to break down? I never really hear about it and you have horses that race a lot and in tough races for many years.
I don’t know how common it is, but horses racing abroad tend to have MUCH longer careers than American horses do. As the AIG ad says, most American TBs will retire by age 3. It’s not uncommon for horses to race up to age 10 (occasionally even older for jumpers), whereas we’re “stuck” with horses like Bernardini, who’s retiring to a stud career after a whopping 8 lifetime starts.
We have different breeding goals, I think. America (as usual) is concerned with being impressive (setting speed records, winning the Derby, etc.) and making money (via winning large purse races - most of which are for 3yos - and retiring early to a lucrative stud career), whereas other countries are focused more on soundness and longevity.
Poor girl…
Yea…I saw the article today about Henny Hughes and Bernardini retiring…they beat who?
Bernardini ran against horses of his own age, none of which have been particularly impressive, for all but two of his start, in the JC Gold Cup he ran against three older horses, two of which are decent runners but nothing impressive, and Dylan Thomas who had never before run on dirt.
Then he comes into the BC classic and loses to Invasor…hmmm a good horse beat him. Why is he going to stud for $100k?!
It drives me up the wall! (As if you couldn’t already tell)
Yeah…he’s a nice horse, sure, but it drove me batty to hear the announcers for the BC commenting on how he was being compared to Seattle Slew and Affirmed. I’m sorry, but no way. Affirmed ran against Alydar his entire 3yo career (and went on to beat the likes of Spectacular Bid as a 4yo), and both were amazing horses (not to mention Alydar actually “beat” Affirmed in the stud shed). Seattle Slew won the Triple Crown, not to mention winning eclipse awards all 3 years he ran.
Bernardini…beat no one. He’s unproven, and his main selling point is fashionable bloodlines (including Slew, ironically enough).