In a message dated 1/10/2007 4:42:58 PM US Mountain Standard Time, Alison@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
? Its been very clear that his owner and trainer love him. If they can afford to spend a million dollars to fix him, god bless them. His owner has said that she would do what she could for him even if he never spends a day at stud.
I know I am going to get into so much hot water for this, but... I feel we all need to re-run the video of that race. I watched and watched again to make sure I saw what I thought I saw. Watch the jockey before he goes into the gate. Now isn't he doing exactly what you do if you think your horse is off in the rear? Yup? he is looking at the horses hide, he feels it. Guess who rode that horse for his morning work that day? Yup, replay the audio, it was the trainer (who loves him).Re-ply the audio of the trainer before the race, read his face, he knows he is not going to win. Did you know that the number of horses that go on to finish well in a race after they brake early at the gate and have to get re-loaded is next to 0? Horse is off in rear, broke early, and they didn't scratch. They reloaded that horse. I believe that this was the first race that Barbaro had ever run without more than 5 weeks off between. Most horses do not need that sort of "rest" between. I have to wonder about that also. Reading the fine print on that type of insurance policy could be interesting. Many have clauses that you may not put the horse down and get your mortaliy paid unless you do everything you can to save the horse. I am not claiming to know about Barbaros insurance, but I am not convinced that this is not a bunch of fluff for the viewers. These are just my observations, and my take on what I observed.
