Unlike "CSI" or "Crossing Jordan," it won't take an hour to find out how a person died. According to the University of Kentucky and the Associated Press, it will be at least two weeks before additional information is known about what caused Eight Belles to break down in the Kentucky Derby, the filly’s owner said Friday. There is a chance that the horse may have had an aneurysm, which could have led to the horse's death at Churchill Downs two Saturdays ago.
This may apease for the time being those zealots known as PETA.
Now I'm not a vet and don't play one on television. But if this was indeed the cause of death, then we could say that this is genetic. Granted, Eight Belles was a distant cousin of Barbaro, who also was injured in a Triple Crown race a couple of years ago. Let's not rush to judgement. Let's let the experts find out what happened before we jump to any conclusions. Then let's try to make the sport better by making the horses healtier, even checking the blood lines and if there's even one flaw that could be fatal, that horse should be put out to pasture.
These animals are too valuable to lose. Eight Belles trainer Larry Jones knows that. I don't buy the idea that she was on steroids, despite her size.
The second leg of the Triple Crown will take place Saturday at Baltimore's Pimlico Park. All eyes will be on Big Brown and wondering what if Eight Belles had lived. Would she be here racing again? Probably. Would the result be the same? Maybe. It's hard to say. All we can do is guess.
Let's hope they find the answer to the mystery if for nothing else for the well being of horses and the people that love them.