DxExLxAxHxOxYxAx's Blog

as you all know, i was one of the many in attendance aat the breeders cup on saturday.  it was a thrillling day indeed, and i came inches away of winning a few thousand...which killed me...i got GREAT photos of Lahudood, Midnight Lute, Ginger Punch, and Curlin in the winners circle...the horses were lookin great that day...the only one that i thought looked horrible was Any Given Saturday...but there was tragedy in the Classic...George Washington was euthanized after beign pulled up at the 16th pole....this is an eyewitness account of wht happened at the racetrack...

i was at the winners circle right up against the fence..when all of a sudden all the media crew were not paying any attention to Curlin, who just won the Classic, but they were all lookin at the middle of the racetrack...i saw wht they were looking at...in the home stretch i was lookin through my binocs cheerin on hard spun wen i saw the tragedy....its funny because just the day before i was watchin the movie Rufiian on ESPN w/ my mom, and i was like " i hope i never have to witness a great horse be pulled up and euthanized on the racetrack."...i should have never said that.....anyways..when i was lookin i my binocs i saw the jockey mick kinane pull up george washington...he took a bad step..that is all that it took for this european turf star to go down...i sstopped cheering and tears started welling up in my eyes...i NEVER want to see a horse in pain..especially the excruciating pain that g wash was in...i stayed on the fence at the winners cricle nad called my dad who was at our seats right at the 16th pole, where it aalll went down...i could see everytihng through my binocs, and then 3 ablulances came over and the men held a tarp up, but only facin tha people rght in front of them..since i was at an angle i still peered on and saw them lay the horse down on the track, and attempt to put a stint on his right foreleg nad bandage it up..obviously it didnt work..and i saw the vet that ESPN has talkin to jeannine edwards and he said  that the horse had sustained numerous fractures to his cannon, fetlock, and sesamooid bones...basically his leg nad sesamoids (the bones attatching the hoof ot the ankle) were shatterd into numerous peices, and his ankle was split in half and dislocated from the sesamoids...it was gruesome indeed..bone curdling pain that this horse went through..i could jus tell by the expressions of the vet that it was horrible and it was a compound fracture...which means that it broke the skin nad was immune to infection immediately....the hrse was laying on the ground and the nexxt thign i saw was the vets liftng the horse onto the ambulance with another tarp...i knew it was final...he was put down..after i got some pictures of curlin i ran to my parents to break the news to them...becasue the whole racetrack started cheering and applauding when g wash was in the ambulance..but i wasnt..i knew he was  gone and i started to cry while reaching my parents..they asked w hy i was cryign and i said that thye euthanized him..at first they dint believe me but another woman had  gotten off the phone and also stated  taht ESPN announced his death..i was in a somber mood the rest of the night...i didnt eat much of my dinner at ruby tuesdays, and i cried most of the way home...back when i was runnign to my parents to tell the news..i herd a man say " aidan o'brien should be sanctioned for running this horse in this race." .. i knew he was joking but i would agree...he is the best trainer in europe..he should have known better..even when George Washington ran 6th out of 14 in the clasic last year, i was dumbfounded as to why he was in the feild...i felt taht aidan o'brien would fly back to europe wit a heavy heart that evening...another interestin fact is that back in 06, george washington won the 2000 guines the same day tht Lael Stables' barbaro won the ky derby...george washington was bred by mr n mrs jackson, and they havent seen him since he was a yearling...also..george washington was still running this year because he failed at the breeding shed in europe...if that were the situation, i would have kept  him retired and let him be just a horse..

this is the sport of horse racing that i have grown to love throughout the years, and i will always love it..there is tradegy in every sport..so dont blame the greedy owners (althoguh they were pretty greedy for the owners of g wash are the 2 richest men in england..they also own dylan thomas who ahd a dissapointing performance in the turf and rags to riches, the stellar filly who captured the belmont from  curlin)...there will always be a lust for money in hrose racing, but not all owners are like that...look at roy n pat chapman...everyone was pissed because they retired smarty after the belmont, but they were r ight. he had a bone chip nad he could have been dead if they decided to run him in a prep for the breeders cup...soo look at it that way..there are many grooms, hotwalkers, stablehands, jockeys, trainers, and owners who struggle in ths sport.

i hope i never have to witness wht i witnessed on saturday ever again in person.