RIP Mongolian Groom

[Dylan Christensen]

Mongolian Groom euthanized

The poor guy fractured his left hind leg and had to be euthanized. With the loss of another horse life on the biggest stage I think it’s quite possible this could be curtains for California racing.

[Fern Thompson]

This is horrible. I watched the race but didn't see anything unusual.
Does this make the 37th horse death at Santa Anita since last December?

[David Gray]

Horse was overraced. 9 races in last 8 months. 11 races in past year. Trainer stated horse did not have a very good last work. Does it take a genius to figure this out? No it doesn't. This is why racing will end. Rich people acting like they have no clue when its all right in front of our eyes. No big deal, Im sure the owners had insurance. Its all about money, NOT about horses.

[Dylan Christensen]

Its all about money, NOT about horses.

At least for some it is, there's still a good portion that loves and cares for the horse but this isn't the side that the public eye sees.

[Lily Wilkins]

I was watching him closely because he was in a decent spot (and I how could you miss him in those bright blue blinkers) and I thought he could actually be an upset... I saw him check and stop and I knew something bad had happened. Poor guy.

And it had to happen in the race of the event with the biggest audience and the most accessible TV coverage.. UGH! I am praying for the sport.

[Gigi Gofaster]

I'm curious how vets did not pick up on a problem in the days before when plenty of those trackside saw the horse wasn't looking good, and even the trainer was puzzled by his lackluster work.

[Mara Jade Vess]

The trainer stated that the saddle slipped in the work which is why he was unhappy. With the amount of scrutiny that Santa Anita was under, they would have to be a special kind of thick to let a lame horse go to race, especially when they scratched one of Brown's and one of O'Brien's despite the latter saying that the horse always moved like that.

[Gigi Gofaster]

It isn't about the horse being lame. If we have any indication that one of our eventers isn't feeling their best, we don't compete them. A horse that is tired, sick, or even just jaded won't protect himself, won't carry himself properly, won't adjust himself or power off like we need them to. Any of that can lead to injury. There were plenty of people on social media commenting on how the horse didn't look right in the days before the race - they weren't commenting on lameness or a slow work and they didn't see a slipped saddle. This horse was run hard all year, and traveled hard. Looks like it could be a bad call from his connections. I'm not saying they were greedy (although looking at his campaign this year I'm not saying they weren't either), because horses can break without warning, but it's worth considering that there were signs here that the horse wasn't right to race.

[T.D. Palm]

I didn't watch The Classic yesterday; so I get up today and see what the sport page says about the race. The headline from the AP..."Vino Rosso Wins Injury-marred Classic." I see "injury-marred" and I'm thinking, "Oh man, how many horses went down?" I should have known...my paper thrives on hyperbole. But its the sizzle that sells...not the steak. Not belittling the poor demise of Mongolian Groom, but how many horses ran in the two days of the Breeders Cup without an incident.
Anyway, also read that Santa Anita is thinking of going back to a synthetic track. They tried that twice before and the "plastic" failed miserably for various reasons, but Golden Gate's synthetic holds up well. Maybe southern California climate is not conducive to synthetic courses.

[Dylan Christensen]

I didn't watch The Classic yesterday; so I get up today and see what the sport page says about the race. The headline from the AP..."Vino Rosso Wins Injury-marred Classic." I see "injury-marred" and I'm thinking, "Oh man, how many horses went down?" I should have known...my paper thrives on hyperbole. But its the sizzle that sells...not the steak. Not belittling the poor demise of Mongolian Groom, but how many horses ran in the two days of the Breeders Cup without an incident.
Anyway, also read that Santa Anita is thinking of going back to a synthetic track. They tried that twice before and the "plastic" failed miserably for various reasons, but Golden Gate's synthetic holds up well. Maybe southern California climate is not conducive to synthetic courses.

I wouldn't say calling it injury marred is hyperbole in any way shape or form. I mean think about it, if a human died in the Olympics due to an injury nobody would hesitate to call it marred. The fact that one horses death is "okay" to so many in this industry makes me feel like these activists are right about us.

[Louise Bayou]

I didn't watch The Classic yesterday; so I get up today and see what the sport page says about the race. The headline from the AP..."Vino Rosso Wins Injury-marred Classic." I see "injury-marred" and I'm thinking, "Oh man, how many horses went down?" I should have known...my paper thrives on hyperbole. But its the sizzle that sells...not the steak. Not belittling the poor demise of Mongolian Groom, but how many horses ran in the two days of the Breeders Cup without an incident.
Anyway, also read that Santa Anita is thinking of going back to a synthetic track. They tried that twice before and the "plastic" failed miserably for various reasons, but Golden Gate's synthetic holds up well. Maybe southern California climate is not conducive to synthetic courses.

I wouldn't say calling it injury marred is hyperbole in any way shape or form. I mean think about it, if a human died in the Olympics due to an injury nobody would hesitate to call it marred. The fact that one horses death is "okay" to so many in this industry makes me feel like these activists are right about us.

If you think that then you are not "us"as you put it Dylan! Not ONE person I know thinks a horse dying is okay and to say that makes you part of the problem. What T.D was saying is that 1 horse getting killed in relation to how many ran is getting lost in the Peta/activist rhetoric and that is how they want it. Because it makes for good press to sell it that way. I also think horsemen are all for tighter guidelines when it comes to horse/rider safety. The ones that are not are the ones that are causing the issues.

[Dylan Christensen]

I didn't watch The Classic yesterday; so I get up today and see what the sport page says about the race. The headline from the AP..."Vino Rosso Wins Injury-marred Classic." I see "injury-marred" and I'm thinking, "Oh man, how many horses went down?" I should have known...my paper thrives on hyperbole. But its the sizzle that sells...not the steak. Not belittling the poor demise of Mongolian Groom, but how many horses ran in the two days of the Breeders Cup without an incident.
Anyway, also read that Santa Anita is thinking of going back to a synthetic track. They tried that twice before and the "plastic" failed miserably for various reasons, but Golden Gate's synthetic holds up well. Maybe southern California climate is not conducive to synthetic courses.

I wouldn't say calling it injury marred is hyperbole in any way shape or form. I mean think about it, if a human died in the Olympics due to an injury nobody would hesitate to call it marred. The fact that one horses death is "okay" to so many in this industry makes me feel like these activists are right about us.

If you think that then you are not "us"as you put it Dylan! Not ONE person I know thinks a horse dying is okay and to say that makes you part of the problem. What T.D was saying is that 1 horse getting killed in relation to how many ran is getting lost in the Peta/activist rhetoric and that is how they want it. Because it makes for good press to sell it that way. I also think horsemen are all for tighter guidelines when it comes to horse/rider safety. The ones that are not are the ones that are causing the issues.

By us I mean the faces of the sport. Some of the biggest owners and trainers couldn’t care less if a horse died, they just want the money.*cough cough Holendorfer* In the moment I got after TD unfairly but I’m just really irked about all of this, as is everyone else. I’m sorry to TD for reacting so quickly however.

[Tammy Stawicki]

Anyway, also read that Santa Anita is thinking of going back to a synthetic track. They tried that twice before and the "plastic" failed miserably for various reasons, but Golden Gate's synthetic holds up well. Maybe southern California climate is not conducive to synthetic courses.

While true that Santa Anita's synthetics had lots of issues, one thing they didn't fail at was reducing fatal injuries. Which was true for all the Southern California synthetic tracks yet they were taken away because of other issues, just like Keenland's which also reduced fatal injuries. And I don't think Santa Anita's issues were solely climate based given that if memory serves correct there was little drama with Hollywood Park's synthetic track and the climate is fairly similar I would think.

So the question is, is the top priority for those in charge in the racing industry getting horse fatalities as low as possible. Because if so synthetics have been proven to reduce fatalities. And if not can the sport survive in an era where Sea World isn't breeding whales anymore, Ringling Brothers isn't showing Elephants and Central Park almost lost there carriage horses because 3 have died in the last 30 years. One every 10 years and people were outraged. Compared to racing's numbers...

[LA Pepper]

All these people that supposedly said the horse was not right before the race,(if in fact this is not made up hearsay ie the fact that 'so many people spoke up') should be just as ashamed of themselves as the people they are dissing for not saying anything BEFORE the race. If they work on the track itself, there are loads of people to report to. If they are people off the track like you and me, I would think they have a working phone, and CALL the track. It annoys me no end that everyone is SO SURE this was avoidable, in hindsight. If indeed there was obvious problems with the horse before the race, then shame on us all for not complaining louder.

[Lily Wilkins]

All these people that supposedly said the horse was not right before the race,(if in fact this is not made up hearsay ie the fact that 'so many people spoke up') should be just as ashamed of themselves as the people they are dissing for not saying anything BEFORE the race. If they work on the track itself, there are loads of people to report to. If they are people off the track like you and me, I would think they have a working phone, and CALL the track. It annoys me no end that everyone is SO SURE this was avoidable, in hindsight. If indeed there was obvious problems with the horse before the race, then shame on us all for not complaining louder.

Nobody spoke up because it didn't really happen. It IS all hearsay... The vet team had no problem evaluating and scratching 4 horses at last minute, including an Aidan O'Brien trainee. If MG was really so "off" that all these jo-blow people claim they noticed, how could he possibly have breezed well for the vet? Or jogged off well? Or, if they flexion tested him at all, how could he have passed?

My family up until just a couple months ago, owned and showed Arabian Sporthorses. Our stallion had a soft-tissue injury when he was young that ailed him his entire career. Occasionally he would act off in his training and we would call the vet.. All the imaging examinations showed that it was healed and he was fine, but as soon as we put him on a Longe-line, or rode him for the vet, or they did flexion testing on him, he would test lame. We even had to scratch from the Regional show one year because of it.

So even something SUBTLE should have been detected by the vets in Mongolian Groom's case, especially if it was sooo obvious to bystanders. I think it was just a very unfortunate freak incident and people are trying to find someone to blame. The reality is, these are 1,000 pound animals that we have selectively bred to be fine-boned and fast... That's not the most practical combo.