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The horse ran the best race of its life four days before it was killed. The BEST RACE OF ITS LIFE means it was only beaten 44 (forty-four) lenghts. It was bred to run on the flat and not to summer jump. The trainer (or cab driver or whatever) has had ZERO winners from 75 runners over the past FIVE years in GB. Only two of his horses managed to get a 3rd place (probably in 3-runner races).
The horse was so fit that it was losing touch after 3-4 fences and suffered a heart attack. If a horse can’t survive the first FIVE furlongs of a race, then we do have a serious problem given the trainers record.
Why doesn’t anyone care about these fatalities. The changes made at Aintree and at Cheltenham a few years ago are very good for the sport and have taken nothing away from the excitement and spectacle of HN Racing.
However the incredibly high number of fatalities especially during the summer months occuring to lesser horses need to be taken into serious consideration.
How many times have catapult fences at places like Wetherby or Southwell been altered?
How many bends running down the hill at Irish tracks have altered to prevent horses from slipping up and breaking their knees?
I could ask these kind of never-ending questions forever, but I don’t think that I could be seriously heard.I would def contact the powers that be and ask what they think of the facts … but I doubt they will respond in the way we would like. It does seem totally potty to be running a horse like this – but he had actually managed to beat others in 9 races … so there are others with a similar lack of ability but I’m not sure that a lack of ability would actually cause the authorities to stop it from running. I have no idea why someone should continue to have a licence if they are so unsuccessful … nor why people would send horses to them to train … I don’t think seeing a horse always being tailed off is much "fun". The poor boy must have had something very wrong and/or was not fit enough to race … I haven’t seen him so have no idea what sort of condition he was in or how he was turned out …
RIP Barry The Barber – I hope you did not suffer too much XPS His sire Fleminsfirth has sired some very good jumpers … so maybe connections were hoping for some improvement in a 7 yo …
Racing Post Dec 2012: FLEMENSFIRTH will be the most expensive stallion on the Coolmore National Hunt roster when he covers at a fee of €10,000 next year.
Flemensfirth, a 20-year-old son of Alleged, is best known as the sire of Imperial Commander, Pandorama and Tidal Bay, and he could have a new superstar in the shape of Flemenstar, who won the Grade 1 John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase by five lengths this month.
RIP Barry the Barber
It’s nice to see how much folk care about horses on here and I hope you find the answers you are seeking to help horses and stop this happening, it’s criminal. Poor boy
Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...This follows on from what happened to Whatuthink last week, albeit at a higher level.
What a hateful thread! none of you have any idea whether the horse showed a bit at home or was loved and sent to the racecourse for a bit of sport or any other scenarios .
The connections are entitled to run their horses they pay the bills not you lot !
Not every horse can be a world beater . Perhaps you should go back to writing your letters of support to animal aid and peta from your council flats and leave the lamenting to real horse racing fans not those of you that seem to have a nutjob obsession with horses deaths.
Go get a life eh?The facts are there to be seen. So being consistently tailed off is "abit of sport"??? If I was an owner I don’t think I’d enjoy seeing my pride and joy and much loved horse unable to be abit more competitive … and I would be worried that the horse had a physical problem causing him to run so poorly. Agree owners pay the bills – but again why keep paying someone with such a poor record – surely the idea is to win/place occasionally??
PS I don’t live in a council flat and don’t see the connection even if I did …
I don’t know why I’ve even bothered to respond to your contribution …Honeysdad. I’m not spending time going into detail, you can do this yourself if you like as I suspect you haven’t already. If you want to check it go to at the races website and click on his stable and filter the summary year by year, doesn’t take more then a minute if you are decisive and accustomed to think quick enough. You’ll clearly see the statistics suggest the set up at the Tracey Barfoot-Saunt stable isn’t professional. I watched the replay of that race today and see Barrythebarber drop his head carriage after the first flight. The jockey then urged the horse along until he collapsed and died of a heart attack. He clearly wasn’t race fit and shouldn’t have been there.
We are a good lot on here and have a lot of respect for horses, jockeys aswell. I’ve been into racing for years and know a mistake when I see one. It’s frustrating when such a mistake like this could have been avoided.
We only have a ‘nutjob obsession with horse deaths’ when we see instances where we feel the death could have been avoided and lessons can be learned for the future. Also pressure is often put on the powers that be when it comes to high profile races but someone needs to keep an eye on racing at the other end of the scale. We can’t stop horses having accidents; that happens away from racing all the time, but we can stop horses being flogged to death when running at the back of the field and seriously out of contention. It happens far too often.
I fail to see why it’s a hateful thread when someone shows concern over what may have been a preventable death. The vast majority of trainers and owners care deeply about their horse’s welfare, but by the law of averages there’s got to be a few who are getting all their priorities wrong, or are just incapable of taking care of a horse properly, and those people need weeding out of the system imo. Someone ought to pay that stable a visit.
Sorry Honeysdad can’t agree with your sentiments on this occasion. Was intrigued to know what piece of social research you have stumbled across that links the views expressed here with living in council flats…
I was at Huntingdon on Sunday and was, as with any fatality, upset and saddened by the death of poor Barry the Barber.
However, he did not appear to me to be unfit on viewing the horses in the paddock, in fact I wrote on my racecard that he looked well and happy.
There is some emotive language being used in this thread. The horse was not being ‘flogged to death’ Moehat. The horse started to drop out the back and the jockey asked him for more effort to keep up, as would any jockey of any horse. There was no response from the horse and you then see the jockey look down a couple of times and he immediately pulled him up quickly. He had dismounted when the horse collapsed, he wasn’t riding a finish with whip flailing, tailed off by half the course.
Perhaps the reason the horse has been uncompetitive in the past was due to an underlying heart condition?
Commiserations to anybody who cared for this horse, and the (far too many) that have also lost their lives recently in some horrific falls.
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