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I live in Louisville, KY and have been around horse racing for years. What happened on Saturday was extremely unfortunate, but part of the sport. My heart absolutely sank when I saw her laying on the track, just as it did when Barbaro sustained his injury. There are several reasons for having to euthanize that this point. First of all, this was an extremely severe injury, complete bone breaks, through the skin. Once the adrenaline worn off she would have been in a great amount of pain. Second, horses are not animals. They need to be on their feet to live. You can't put a horse in a stall, off it's feet, for the time needed to heal. They become depressed, stop eating and drinking. Lastly, this horse was never going to run again. And this goes back to my last point. They need to run.
Very sad. And it's unfortunate that we aren't able to do more to help horses that sustain these injuries, but it is very complicated. No ones fault.
Rest in peace Eight Belles. Your last race on Earth was heroic.
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