Need Opinion Please:

[dray33]

I know about .5% of what there is to know, so please take this as coming from someone who knows very little.

I saw a race today on TVG, Race 4 at Turfway: and the #9 was a horse called "Royal Lear". I was watching it on my big screen, and I have Tivo... so I replayed this slow mo time and again. As they came to the stretch, Royal Lear made a move to catch the leaders, so he was well positioned on the screen. This is what I saw. I have NEVER seen a horse's front leg wing out the way this one did, it was horrifying. You could see the impact all the way to the shoulder, and it was unbelieveable. But the horse keep right on runnin'. He finished 4th in the race, but on replay, the winging and impact and contact was frightening.

Can anyone see this? Does anyone have the ability to see the replay and tell me if im nuts, or is this horse unfit to race? Look at the left front as they enter the stretch. Maybe it doesn't matter to horses, but I have to say, I would be shocked if this poor horse can stay sound enough to keep racing.

Just wondering if anyone can see it. Here's the particulars:

Date: 1-08-2006
TURFWAY, Race 4
Horse#9: Royal Lear (watch the stretch run, slow)

Thanks.

[madelyn]

Um.. was it Aqueduct or Turfway?

[dray33]

Turfway, my bad... thanks for picking it up. I corrected it

[magic code]

Huh. That was pretty ugly. He did pick up a check, but if you look at his record he's not the soundest horse in the world - raced 10/3/04, 10/13/04 then not till 9/11/05, 9/22/05, 10/6/05, 12/14/05 and then yesterday.

[dray33]

It's one reason that super slow motion video at the 2 year old shows could be critical.

[ageecee]

When a horse front leg "wings out" i call it paddling. Some other may have a different name for it but i call it leg paddling. Usually the horse is hurting somewhere so it is doing something different than coming over the top. These type horses usually have a short career and end up getting injured and never making it back to the races. I dont have form with me but it sounds like the horse has had difficulty racing over a period of time which means its getting hurt and there having to stop on the horse. I stay away from paddling horses but ive seen some run very well when paddling.

[dray33]

This was horrible, because you could see the shock being sent up his entire leg. I am wondering if the connections know this. Or the jock.

Its amazing to me the foot gets back into the "normal" striking position, after all that flimsy movement.