I love horses, so stinking pretty.
So I spent yesterday reading my first non-school related book in over a month, and preparing to watch racing of all sorts. First up, Kentucky Derby. A three frickin’ hour telecast for a 2 minute race. Ohhh NBC, way to milk that for every advertising penny. Big Brown, the favorite, won by 5 horse lengths. Coming in second was the only filly in the group, Eight Belles. A filly hadn’t been entered in the Kentucky Derby for something like 9 years. After a strong second place finish, Eight Belles collapsed on the cool-down lap after breaking BOTH her front ankles. Apparently this injury was too much for any horse to come back from (giant body, spindly legs) and she was immediately euthanized on the track. Ugh. This was basically the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. The trainer and jockey were in tears. This poor horse was in so much pain they had to put her down IMMEDIATELY. They couldn’t even take her to a vet hospital. Way to start my sports watching on a sad note.
Cut to 11:30 pm. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had just taken advantage of Denny Hamlin’s tire going down, and took the lead at the Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Speedway. While Junior was racing into a corner fighting for position with stupid Kyle Busch, that big-eared asshat drove into the side of the 88 with 5 laps to go. Junior went spinning into the wall damaging his car and knocking him back to 16th. Kyle “stupid-face” Busch had zero damage and remained in second place. Junior is now on a 72 race losing streak. I hope that Kyle Busch, well, I hope bad things for him. Racing breaks my heart.
Oops. My bad.
On a MUCH happier note…
THE HORNETS BEAT THE SPURS!!!!
The should have been MVP, hottie Chris Paul lead his Hornets to a win over the San Antonio Spurs. Now I really have no problem with the Spurs, but I want New Orleans to take the whole thing. Yeah feel good stories! So San An can take their three championship rings and stuff ’em. The Spurs need to not be in the finals this year. GO HORNETS!!
Ladies... 
Big eared asshat = correct.
Horse racing is the dogfighting of old rich white people. Both are animal cruelty. Make the owners go to jail if they ever have to put a horse down and see if they push them beyond their physical limitations then.
The Derby absolutely broke my heart yesterday. I was so excited for a filly to be racing (yes I was one of those girls who always had to compete against the guys) and was rooting for her to win. Her race was absolutely amazing & if not for such a dominant horse in Big Brown, I really believe she would have won. When they had to put her down I just started crying right in front of everyone. It felt almost as bad as having your own pet euthazined. Hopefully this will help the cause of making racing safer for the horses like switching to synthetc track surfaces.
Booo I heart Kyle Busch! Though I am sorry for Jr, because I do like him too. Too bad it wasn’t Jeff Gordon or someone.
I love watching horses run because they are so graceful, but it seems like too many are getting hurt. Something needs to be done about it.
/trying to avoid sounding like Dee Mirich
four championship rings
@Skippy
My bad. I guess I was just considering recent years.
I hate Kyle Busch. I hate Kyle Busch so much that when I was at Talladega I was rooting FOR Jeff Gordon. I have NEVER rooted for Gordon. I thought it was great what Junior said in post race, that regardless of if it was just racing Kyle would “need security” after the race. I used to hate Kurt. Compared to Kyle, Kurt is a decent driver now (of course it helps when you’re not going for wins every week too).
I’m right there with you on Eight Belles too. I was in complete shock. Oh, and the old rich white people that pay for the horses??? Most of them see them only when the horses race. And granted, it was for TV, but if you had watched the coverage of the Derby on ESPN or NBC, you would have seen Larry Jones (Eight Belles’s trainer) and how he treated her. Good trainers and good jockeys love those animals as their family members. The jockey even admitted that he tried to slow her up as soon as crossed the line. The horse is trained and bred to want to win races. Just like any other athlete. Remember that distance runner in the Olympics a couple of years ago who pulled up lame?? He still wanted to cross the finish line. Granted it didn’t cause him death, but it was detrimental to his career. Bad people are involved in every sport and to compare DOGFIGHTING to HORSE RACING…ehhhhhhhh not good. Maybe we should get rid of boxing and ultimate fighting too??
I hate Kyle Busch. I hate Kyle Busch so much that when I was at Talladega I was rooting FOR Jeff Gordon. I have NEVER rooted for Gordon. I thought it was great what Junior said in post race, that regardless of if it was just racing Kyle would “need security” after the race. I used to hate Kurt. Compared to Kyle, Kurt is a decent driver now (of course it helps when you’re not going for wins every week too).
I’m right there with you on Eight Belles too. I was in complete shock. Oh, and the old rich white people that pay for the horses??? Most of them see them only when the horses race. And granted, it was for TV, but if you had watched the coverage of the Derby on ESPN or NBC, you would have seen Larry Jones (Eight Belles’s trainer) and how he treated her. Good trainers and good jockeys love those animals as their family members. The jockey even admitted that he tried to slow her up as soon as crossed the line. The horse is trained and bred to want to win races. Just like any other athlete. Remember that distance runner in the Olympics a couple of years ago who pulled up lame?? He still wanted to cross the finish line. Granted it didn’t cause him death, but it was detrimental to his career. Bad people are involved in every sport and to compare DOGFIGHTING to HORSE RACING…ehhhhhhhh not good. Maybe we should get rid of boxing and ultimate fighting too??
“Maybe we should get rid of boxing and ultimate fighting too??”
Absolutely.
Easy there, Steve. More people have died in equestrian events in the past year and a half (12) than have died in sanctioned MMA events over its entire existence (1). It’s very different than any sport involving animals, whether you agree with those sports or not, as fighters choose to fight. No dog or horse has ever spoken up and said “I’d really like to fight or race today.”
My cat told me she wanted to fight today.
Look, I’m not saying having animals fight isn’t cruel and illegal. But most of everyone’s “standard domestic pets” were “bred” for a purpose, and no its not fighting, but for hunting, scavaging, helping, etc. The ill treatment of any animal is wrong. But that’s the reason there are more and more restrictions in sports that contain animals, because the people who care, want to make sure the animals are protected. Yes, the difference is that human’s SHOULD be able to make the right decisions, but lots of them don’t; its in the news every day. But there are people looking after these animals. How many months did they try to save Barbaro before having to put him down? Good trainers love these animals just like good pet owners do. Bad people are bad people regardless of where they work.
I was upset when I heard about Eight Belles because this type of thing is happening so much. By being in the Chicagoland area it was something we had to deal with at Arlington because it was such an occurance there to the point they had the track investigated. It was a hard day because it was bitter sweet that a horse had to die the same time I picked my 14th straight Derby winner.
To the whole thing with Kyle Busch was uncalled for because he seems to win at any lengths. Glad he still didn’t win. I got home from work and that wreck was the first thing I saw. Not a great day at all.