Friday, 30 July 2010
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August 2008 • VOLUME 36 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine
 Preventing Fractures - New Research May 3rd 2008 The young mare thunders down the final stretch, crosses the finish line, racing, her heart pounding she hits the wire strongly and gallops around the turn and then snap, one can see that her body continues to hurtle at break neck speed even though one leg is gone and then in the next moment she is down and shortly after – dead, never to get up again, leaving many questions in many people`s minds. How could this happen? Why was there no warning? Was there no way to tell that this was about to happen and save this mare? On Monday August 25th 2008 Eight Belles was interred. The onlookers to her burial were few compared with the millions who witnessed her death. Without fanfare, under an overcast sky, Eight Belles' ashes were interred. A few landscapers, a reverent and sometimes tearful Museum staff, buried Eight Belles in an impromptu burial. Watching from across the courtyard and behind a fence, the museum's resident Thoroughbred, Phantom on Tour, and Winston, the miniature horse, watched silently as the walnut box with her ashes were lain in the ground beneath the magnolia tree in the Kentucky Derby Museum Garden. One waitress from the café threw a single red rose where the 60-pound box was to be placed, whispering, "This is breaking my heart all over again." This interment was a brief, informal ceremony closed to the public - with the public memorial service scheduled for September 7 at 2 pm. The second-place winner of the Kentucky Derby, Eight Belles is unique, the first horse that didn`t win the 134 year old classic to be given a place of honor at the museum. A sign of how much her shocking and tragic death and her spirit impacted all of us. The celebration of her life and her accomplishments sadly lie as much as in the way this beautiful filly died as how she lived. The shock resonated everywhere, leaving an incredible legacy where trainers, riders, and the public are looking for answers. Her death touched upon every other horse that places a hoof upon the racetrack as those answers are sought. This death has touched so many and in turn so many feel helpless and want to give something back to this incredible filly and all that she represents. The magnolia that will shade Eight Belles is a gift from Duane Julian, a South Carolina man who never had been to a Derby and was simply taken by the beauty of Belle. Without encouragement in a simple outpouring of caring, many of those who won money on her that day contributed their winnings to her memorial fund. She is the horse whose death could be the ultimate gift to an entire industry. The repercussions still continuing, including the Thoroughbred Safety Committee formed only a week after her death, attacking this problem with new strength and a determination founded off the tragedy that so many watched. We watched as she crossed the finish line second to Big Brown, watched as the jockey Gabriel Saez "heard the worst sound possible - a pop." Breaking not one but two ankles. The damage so excessive they could not even splint the filly to at least get her off the track and were forced to euthanize her right there in front of everyone.. Eight Belles, the only filly to challenge the field of 3-year-old colts in the 2008 Kentucky Derby, nearly beat Big Brown across the finish line before breaking both ankles on the track. Irreparably damaged, she was euthanized before a stunned audience, the first death actually at the Derby in memory. Next May, Eight Belles will be joined by Barbaro. His final resting place is to be out in front of the museum. While we were all hopeful for awhile that he would recover, it just was not meant to be. In the meantime, the Purdue News Service released information on new technology that one day could help prevent other horses from experiencing the same tragic end as Eight Belles.
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An Equestrian Legacy