As previously noted, Kentucky chartwriters appear to favor “went wrong” over the more-common “broke down” when trying to say dead without actually saying dead. Yesterday, in the 8th at Keeneland, 3-year-old Mandel was one of those.

In reporting the death on Twitter, industry hack Ray Paulick betrayed his true colors (yet again). After the perfunctory “sad to hear” drivel, Paulick said, “[Mandel] was claimed from the race for $25,000, and Kentucky has no ‘voided claim’ rule so buyer is out of luck unless he purchased insurance.” Pity the poor buyer, huh Ray?

Then there’s this reaction from a fan to the goings-on at Keeneland (two killed in five days; another “vanned off” today): “This is starting to move into the awful territory. I was literally watching races this weekend and my stomach was in knots because I actually spent the whole race worrying if I was going to see a horse go down. I couldn’t even enjoy the race I was so worried.”

How sad and pathetic does one’s life have to be to utter words like that?