Upsetting Run for Gear It Up at Mountaineer

[geowarrior]

Gear It Up ran in the 9th last night at Mountaineer. He went off as the favorite in post position 1. He broke slowly, but wasn't terribly far back. The jockey, however, sent him up the inside rail as fast as could be until he was with the contenders. However round the turn he began to fade and ended up last in a field of 8. I thought he had broken down.

The report last night from the stable was that as he moved up the inside, the 2 horse kept kicking him, and now he has seven cuts on his right foreleg, several bleeding profusely, and some close enough to ligaments that he is going to have to be closely examined by the vet this morning. There was obviously no room to shove him up the inside rail like that, and to do it so fast when he just came back from being sick. After the bad break, just to let him run his own race and maybe come back for the show or just get fit would have been fine, and instead now he is injured.

I got so attached to Gear It Up when I visited him, I am so upset that he's hurt. How could anyone ride him like that?

I am waiting for today's update, but they won't send it until they're absolutely sure the vet has covered all bases. I hope his ligaments are ok, and that he is not hurting too much. Maybe I'm not hard-headed enough for this.

[madelyn]

I hope he comes out okay... horses may seem so fragile sometimes, but they also can show amazing ability to heal. And quickly.

[geowarrior]

Thanks Madelyn, although I hate to think of him hurting.

He is still at Mountaineer so it took all day to get a report back. Fortunately none of the cuts are near any tendons or ligaments and will heal in a few weeks, however there is heat and pressure on his left front ankle although he is apparently walking out ok.

I don't know enough to know what this might mean but they will not evaluate it further until he gets back to his own vet at Arlington Park. I'm still really worried.

[BenB]

geowarrior once and a while it is a tough play. This kind of things do happen.
It made me sick when these pilots are on board, but like most of us, I can,t ride an tb in the race and suppose neither do you.
I hope it will healed again and by that time you,ve got to post something

[Roguelet]

Did the jockey have any comments after the race?

[geowarrior]

Thanks for your kind thoughts Ben. Gear It Up will be back at Arlington Park today, and will be thoroughly examined by our own vet. We've been told that we might not get a report today (which is good because it means they'll do a thorough examination) but definitely by tomorrow we'll know what's what.

I will be sure to keep you posted as to how he is and thanks again for your interest.

Meanwhile Oriental Rose is running Friday in what looks like a very difficult and competitive Maiden Special Weight, but honestly the way I feel right now I don't care if she wins or shows, I only want her to come back safe.

[geowarrior]

Oh sorry, Rogulet I didn't see your post. The jockey's comments that were relayed to me were just that the 2 horse kept kicking Gear It Up. I don't think he mentioned the bobble at the start because we all saw that on the video. The jockey was forcing Gear It Up on the inside in his original 1 post position along the rail. He moved him up really fast so that he was third by the turn, but by that time he was presumably cut to ribbons and the ankle damage was done (either by the bobble out of the gate or by a really hard bump from the 2 horse when Gear It Up caught up with him that moved him so hard he actually got pushed out of camera range) and then he faded so far back I never saw him pass the finish line and I thought he had broken down. What I don't understand is why after one kick the jockey didn't try another tactic, but to let him get kicked seven times, to the point where he was bleeding profusely, I don't understand.

Our managing partner lays the entire blame at the jockey's feet. Gear It Up has won at this distance but I probably wouldn't describe him as a natural born sprinter. He has plenty of stamina though, and the better ride would have just been to let him sit at the back (he wasn't miles back or anything) and then let him thread through tired horses as they fell back. He could then have used that speed kick that the jockey used up so early to come on and win or show in the race. He was the favorite, so that's obviously what people were expecting.

[Roguelet]

So, if I understand this correctly, the jockey admitted that he knew the horse was getting kicked, yet chose not to alter his position to stop that from happening? "The horse kept getting kicked" is quite different from "The horse got kicked."

It seems that there should be some recourse available... this is one of the things that really bothers me about racing. We have had some absolutely horrendous rides that in some cases obviously cost us purse money (though luckily we haven't had a ride that returned a cut-up horse...) and yet the jockey still walks away with full payment of his fee.

In most cases, I am all for the jockey getting his fee... it's a tough job and a jockey has to make split second decisions that aren't always the right ones, but "to err is human" and in most cases I can live with that as long as it doesn't become a pattern.

However, in cases such as this one, or if a jockey does the exact opposite of his instructions for no good reason, or if he intentionally does not try in a race, I honestly believe that there should be some recourse. We have a couple of jockeys that we will never let near another one of our horses, and I'll bet you will never use this guy again, but sometimes it feels like that's just not enough.

Keep us posted on the vet report when it comes back...

[BenB]

The way I read this, I might be wrong
He was trying to force a place for him, as the places on the inside rail were placed in by the other two horses, so he was not intent to keep a fraction of distances between the horses in front of him. So honestly he was the one, that make the mistake, not the other two.
He was just trying to upset them but took this risk, hurting and damaging your horse.
Sent him over your vet bills etc.

[henthorn]

We had what I considered a poor ride a few years ago by the apprentice jockey that tried to make a hole for my filly, when the hole closed up and left her to clip heels with another filly. Both horses and riders fell head over heels, and the other filly fractured her shoulder and was euthanized the next day. Other than making my girl never want to race again, thankfully neither jockey was injured.

I'm sure the jockey went on to learn from this situation and hopefully improve his timing and riding skills. Some of the others who witnessed the race blamed the jockey and others thought he did his best to get out of a bad situation. There are always more than one perspective from which to view a race and its mishaps. This is a dangerous sport. And you'll also learn that horses can be hurt or dead without any apparent fault at all.

[geowarrior]

Ok to answer Rogulet's question I went back and checked the managing partner's report - I obviously can't guarantee that this is what the jockey said verbatim but here is what I initially got from the managing partner.

"Gear It Up got cut up pretty bad in the race. He has 7 different cuts on his right front leg. The jock said the 2 horse kept kicking him when he went up inside after the poor start. Several of the cuts are bleeding pretty good and a couple are near some ligaments that we need to have the vet check out."

How would you prove culpability on the jockey's part in a case like this? I could see on the internet video that something went wrong, but it's dark at Mountaineer because the races are held at night and I could not have guessed what had really happened. Since I saw it on the internet I don't have a tape, but my impression from the head on replay was that the 2 horse did bump Gear It Up really hard once when Gear It Up caught up to him, but at that time there was plenty of room and it just seemed like a problem of drifting by the 2 horse. But after that it was Gear It Up's jockey who decided that the rail was the way to go, and as I said before Gear It Up has enough stamina that it wasn't really necessary to save that much ground. I feel that after the first kick the jockey should have dropped back, because there simply can't have been enough room. It also did occur to me that there could have been a serious accident with the horses that close.

Since my horses are based at Arlington Park, I don't know if our stable has used this jockey before, but I already sent an email begging the managing partner not to use him again.

[geowarrior]

Yes Henthorn I know it's dangerous and tragic and that often accidents happen without fault, It's only recently that I have had ownership shares in horses (in fact Gear It Up was my first runner in July) but I have been a fan of racing ever since I was a child and have seen some terrible accidents.

But in this case there really was no need for Gear It Up to keep the rail. However, I have to qualify by saying I don't know what instructions the jockey got, because although I don't think it was necessary for Gear It Up to save ground maybe the trainer did. However, surely after the first kick, the jockey should have realised the danger and dropped back (there was room to do so). Nobody would have blamed him if he did, because nobody blamed him for the blown start.

[BenB]

Sometimes when the things are not gooiing well from the start in first place, one have to think rather on the delivery of the goods (horse and jock), instead of purse money. Not all the instructions can be done, if circumstances changes.
Haunting on the others is just taking out everything from the horse and
cost a terrible lot of energy.
And I know just like everyone of the crew, that most races are won on the inside rail.
It happens all the time this kind of things.

Ben

[geowarrior]

The other thing I should mention is that I take Henthorn's point that perhaps the jockey wasn't that experienced. I haven't actually learned how to read the jockey figures in the DRF PP's (British form documents are easier in terms of identifying apprentices) and I don't want to get into names in any case. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe he panicked at the bobble at the start and could only think about catching up, but it sure was a dangerous mistake. However if he were to learn from it, that would be a good thing.

I'm a bit surprised at the turn this thread took. I just wrote because I was so upset that Gear It Up had been hurt, and that it seemed so meaningless, and that I had gotten so attached to him, that I wondered if I was too softhearted for this business. I just have to say that if he was being kicked all the time and had a sore ankle then he was very brave to go as fast as he did all the way up to third before he faded.

[henthorn]

Let's hope he learns from it, no matter how experienced. Your horse is a real trooper to keep trying, but his adrenaline was up and he probably felt little pain at that time. I bet he was sore later! It's okay to be soft-hearted. We just get calluses as we continue to strive.