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Eight Belles
Eight Belles (February 23, 2005 – May 3, 2008) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who came second in the 2008 Kentucky Derby to the winner Big Brown. Her collapse just after the race resulted in immediate euthanasia.
Earlier in the year, Eight Belles became the first filly in Oaklawn Park history to win the Martha Washington Stakes, the Honeybee Stakes, and the Fantasy Stakes. She won the Martha Washington by 13½ lengths, setting a stakes record for margin of victory.
Eight Belles broke down approximately a furlong (1/8 mile) after the wire, while being slowed after the race. She suffered compound fractures of both front ankles and was immediately euthanized because of the nature of her injuries.
Dr. Larry Bramlage, the on-call veterinarian, stated that Eight Belles' trauma was too severe to even attempt to move her off the track.
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Bramlage said Eight Belles had fractures of the cannon and sesamoid bones in both front legs. That is the same type of break that was suffered, in the 2006 Preakness, by 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro in one leg.
Eight Belles was buried and memorialized in the garden of Churchill Downs' Kentucky Derby Museum on September 7, 2008. A race has been renamed in her honor, and was run on the Derby Day 2009 undercard as the Eight Belles Stakes.
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) asked jockeys riding at Pimlico Race Course during all races over the weekend of the 133rd running of the Preakness Stakes (May 16 and 17, 2008) to wear stickers on their pants or boots in honor of Eight Belles. The red and white stickers made by the NTRA had a bell, the number 8, and the word "Belles" on them. The Jockeys' Guild wholeheartedly agreed. Jockey John Velazquez said: "It's something to remind everybody of a great horse. What happened was a really sad thing, and we're sad. I think it [wearing the stickers] is a good thing to bring awareness to our game. We'll do whatever is possible to minimize anything that happens like that."
Kentucky chief veterinarian Lafe Nichols performed a necropsy and tests at the University of Kentucky's Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center. According to a review of the results by the Associated Press, open fractures of both front legs at the fetlock joints were confirmed. They described lacerated skin on both legs, an absence of joint fluid in the damaged areas and congested lungs. She also had a bruised head and hemorrhaging in the left thyroid gland, which the report blamed on her fall after the initial injuries.
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Eight Belles
Eight Belles (February 23, 2005 – May 3, 2008) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who came second in the 2008 Kentucky Derby to the winner Big Brown. Her collapse just after the race resulted in immediate euthanasia.
Earlier in the year, Eight Belles became the first filly in Oaklawn Park history to win the Martha Washington Stakes, the Honeybee Stakes, and the Fantasy Stakes. She won the Martha Washington by 13½ lengths, setting a stakes record for margin of victory.
Eight Belles broke down approximately a furlong (1/8 mile) after the wire, while being slowed after the race. She suffered compound fractures of both front ankles and was immediately euthanized because of the nature of her injuries.
Dr. Larry Bramlage, the on-call veterinarian, stated that Eight Belles' trauma was too severe to even attempt to move her off the track.
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Bramlage said Eight Belles had fractures of the cannon and sesamoid bones in both front legs. That is the same type of break that was suffered, in the 2006 Preakness, by 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro in one leg.
Eight Belles was buried and memorialized in the garden of Churchill Downs' Kentucky Derby Museum on September 7, 2008. A race has been renamed in her honor, and was run on the Derby Day 2009 undercard as the Eight Belles Stakes.
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) asked jockeys riding at Pimlico Race Course during all races over the weekend of the 133rd running of the Preakness Stakes (May 16 and 17, 2008) to wear stickers on their pants or boots in honor of Eight Belles. The red and white stickers made by the NTRA had a bell, the number 8, and the word "Belles" on them. The Jockeys' Guild wholeheartedly agreed. Jockey John Velazquez said: "It's something to remind everybody of a great horse. What happened was a really sad thing, and we're sad. I think it [wearing the stickers] is a good thing to bring awareness to our game. We'll do whatever is possible to minimize anything that happens like that."
Kentucky chief veterinarian Lafe Nichols performed a necropsy and tests at the University of Kentucky's Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center. According to a review of the results by the Associated Press, open fractures of both front legs at the fetlock joints were confirmed. They described lacerated skin on both legs, an absence of joint fluid in the damaged areas and congested lungs. She also had a bruised head and hemorrhaging in the left thyroid gland, which the report blamed on her fall after the initial injuries.