In the 2nd at Tampa Bay yesterday, says the chartwriter, Bench Boy “took a bad step at the wire and left the track in an ambulance.” Turns out, that “bad step” was fatal. Dead, at three. In addition, Uncle Zeb “fell past the wire when he ran into a faltering [Bench Boy].” While the chart says the 4-year-old “walked off,” that could simply be a function of an already-occupied ambulance. We will follow up.
And how’s this for morally bankrupt – with a dying (or already dead) horse behind them, the “Winner’s Circle,” including with what looks like children, continues as planned…
RIP, Bench Boy.
Exactly right, Brian.
That race was the first race broadcast on FS2 Saturday afternoon. The whole show gets posted to YouTube.
None of the commentators mentioned the two horses going down although you could see it happening as they crossed the finish line well behind the rest of the field. The takeaway from that is — the jockeys were not injured otherwise they would have said something.
In this inhumane industry, it is not possible to have horses racing without having horses being fatally injured and the most morally bankrupt participants turning a blind eye to the carnage. What a disgusting display of moral depravity!
Hard to dampen the celebratory mood with something as inconvenient as a dying animal lying a few yards away. Priorities.
Horse breaks, chartwriter softens language, ambulance becomes prop, and the optics remain pristine. Tradition preserved. Spectacle uninterrupted. Everyone claps.
Except, of course, the horses.