Filly Euthanized On Derby Track
Eight Belles Suffers Compound Fractures In Triumph to Tragedy
May 5, 2008
A roaring crowd that cheered Florida Derby champ Big Brown to his resounding 4-3/4 lengths Kentucky Derby victory May 3 and that also yelled bravados for the courageous second place finish of the filly Eight Belles gradually fell silent when news of the female challenger's sudden collapse while galloping out circulated through the record number of Derby attendees.
Another Tragedy On the Track
Gathered at Churchill Downs to watch for the next potential Triple Crown champion, the 157,770 had their moment fulfilled by Big Brown. Their expectations overflowed in his triumphant performance, but tragedy quickly followed the race's outcome.
Eight Belles crossed the finish line second, having represented her gender splendidly, as well, but while the crowd celebrated victory by the husky Big Brown bomber, the filly went down.
Even her trainer, Larry Jones, didn't know Eight Belles was in a struggle to live and lying in the Churchill Downs dirt with two terrible compound fractures to her front ankles. Jones' jockey, Gabriel Saez, met the trainer as he walked away from the attempted rescue scene. With the news exchanged between them, Jones viewed the damage and knew the decision to put Eight Belles down was uncontestable.
Immediate Aid to Filly Determined Her Condition Hopeless
Eight Belles' run with the boys and her heartful attempt to become just the fourth filly in history to win the Kentucky Derby was over. On-track American Association of Equine Practitioners member Larry Bramlage, D.V.M., also the man to sum up the injuries to Barbaro in the 2006 Preakness Stakes, explained that there was no choice but to immediately euthanize the suffering filly.
What exactly caused the filly's collapse remains unknown. A necropsy was scheduled.
Trainer Jones Firm in Belief That Filly Belonged
Eight Belles, a dark gray Unbridled's Song daughter owned by Fox Hill Farms, entered the Derby at 13 -1 odds, but Jones believed she was capable of running with the 19 colts that made up the rest of the field. He remained convinced of that even after the tragic outcome, saying the filly had just run the race of her life.
With a 9 (start) - 5 (win) - 2 (seconds) - 1 (third) - 1 (off the board) career record, Eight Belles came into the Derby with her most recent victories in the Honeybee Stakes and the Fantasy Stakes and seemed destined to soar into even greater accomplishments. Her Derby second was a triumph. The last filly to win the Run for the Roses was Winning Colors (1988). Only two other females, Genuine Risk (1980) and Regret (1915) had won the race.
Eight Belles' perfect 4-0 record this season and earnings ($308,650) prior to the Derby brought double success to the Jones stable, as he also handles the filly Proud Spell. One day before the Derby, Proud Spell ran successfully for the same trainer-jockey team as she scored in the prestigious Kentucky Oaks, a filly equivalent to the boys' Derby.
