Just finished watching the Kentucky Derby and it was exciting, but then very sad. The favorite, Big Brown won by 4 and 3/4 lengths, starting from the farthest outside gate at 20. It was the first time the 20 gate horse had won since 1929. He cruised in 4th to 5th until making the final turn where the jockey got another gear out of Big Brown and pulled out ahead, never looking back.

The second place horse was Eight Bells, a filly, unfortunately had two compound fractures in both front ankles after the finish and had to be euthanized due to the extreme pain that it caused the horse and the fact that it would be extremely difficult for her to come back from it. (I don't agree with it.)

I didn't watch the race, but I'm watching the replays right now.

you know once them horses get hurt they kill them STUPID people

I know, it's disgusting, but to them the horse is an expendable asset. Once it can't do them any good anymore, they, for lack of a better phrase, get rid of it.

It's sad, but two compound fractures, that would be excruciating, and horses rely entirely on their legs, so it would have been a long process to rehabilitate the horse. I can see the validity of putting an animal out of it's misery if there is no chance for recovery, but not in this case.

It's very sad that the filly had to be euthanized, but if you've ever been around horses you'd know why. The article I read said she shattered both of her front ankles. One ankle, ok she has three legs to hobble with and they can try healing her, although she still would have very bad odds of surviving at all, much less making them money as a brood mare. Two legs, she can't even stand up. Literally. Horses need to stay standing and can not lay down for long periods of time without internal damage. I'm sure they didn't want to euthanize a Kentucky Derby horse in front of thousands of people but it would have been cruel not to.

I used to like watching these races but I love horses too much and I know what goes on at the tracks, whether the tv camera is turned on or not. I've also met people with rehabilitated racers- some of them get adopted out after their "usefulness" ends, just like greyhounds.

We own 2 horses so I do know what you're saying. There are ways they could have rehabilitated the horse, but at the moment I guess it was the best thing for the horse.

...back to Big Brown, it was impressive how well the horse did. Coming from the 20th gate to win by nearly 5 lengths, I'm not a big follower of horse racing, but I do like to watch the big 3.

The win reminded me of the movie Seabiscuit in the way that the horse caught up with the first place runner, then took off in the last few seconds of the race.