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Am I being a God-awful pedant if I point out it was a Mares’ Handicap Chase, so there has to be an above-average chance that Grand Turina is, or rather sadly was, a she?
If so, I apologise to all – just call me Gladders!
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"ERL – Thanks for the extra info.
To be honest, I struggle to see a scenario where Grand Turina would have ended up being deemed unsuitable for racing today.
When these sad losses occur, many of us rack our brains to try to see how they can be minimised, and we should keep trying even though the risk can’t be eliminated fully.
Ian – If we are being pedantic, I would point out that I have been referring to Grand Turina as being female! So have a couple of others
Thanks for starting this thread betlarge (mike), it is important to do so. I haven’t been here since Friday due to being away and not having caught up on the results until now, and therefore wanting to avoid spoilers.
But on Monday afternoon I did watch this one race, and I had a few thoughts on Grand Turina that echo yours, as well as a question or two and some ignorance that needs to be cleared up on my behalf, please..
This 12-year-old horse, well past her best, was making up the numbers (as the odds would suggest) in a weak Class 4 event.
As Marlingford said, the horse took off too far from the fence. But nobody has mentioned the jockey yet. Do the stewards interview him? If not, then that is unforgivable. Stewards should interview every jockey where there has been a fatality, or they are not stewarding, in my (uneducated) opinion. Could anyone therefore enlighten and educate me as to whether that happens, please? (Forgive my ignorance as I have no idea what happens in such a case).
It’s not beyond wit to think that some would question why the authorities would ban a jockey for days for tickling a horse with a feather duster one too many times, but a jockey can dive a tired horse at a fence to break it’s neck and can carry on riding as if nothing has happened? And it only needs a loudmouth to ask that question in the wrong place, as ignorant as it may be, doesn’t it?
Was Brian Hughes interviewed by the Musselburgh Stewards after two horses lost his life under him?
Didn’t read anything in the RP….Doubt it. As Quelle Farce says, they are more worried about perceived public perception of whip use than fatalities (which, if my own non-racing friends are anything to go by, are a far bigger turn-off than the whip). Not only jockeys. As well as Getabeau, Chris Grant’s Red Reminder also pulled up having lost her action. Hopefully she wasn’t badly injured. Chances are that most of these “coincidences” are just that but it’s concerning that those who govern racing are too disinterested to even consider checking out any unexplained patterns.
There’s definitely something to be said for analysing horserace equine fatality and injury rates by all manner of variables e.g. jockey, trainer, course, type of race, going, field size, horse’s experience, frequency of runs, age, odds, and so on. Anything that can help identify improvements is of course welcome.
But I would be extremely cautious re attributing any implication of blame or negligence to individuals whose rates were higher as there are likely to be so many contributory factors at play. Also fatalities are sufficiently low that identifying significant patterns is likely to be tricky. Nevertheless, racing authorities worldwide need to be taking a highly proactive interest in any harm that comes to horses under their watch.
“Could there not be some stewarding process in place to ask connections (without accusation) for an explanation in such cases?”
I simply grabbed a few from the race cards betlarge, so probably not ideal examples, but should any of these be allowed to run or require connections to provide an explanation as to their merits?
Race cards are full of them.
If they win it’s a case of masterful training, but if there’s a fatality, them some people start questioning the merits and integrity of the owners and trainers.
11yo Lucky Robin.
“Multiple winner but now on a losing run of 14 and others are preferred.”Glimpse Of Gold, a 12yo, has only finished in the first three twice in the last eight races and not completed at all in the last two.
Golden Town, another 12yo, hasn’t finished in the first three in it’s last eight races.
Gwencily Berbas, now 12yo, has only won one race in its last 26 starts and not hit the board in its last seven.
Ok, lets agree that a pre-race veterinary inspection is a good thing. It is done in some other racing jurisdictions, why not here?
The bad and sad thing about Grand Turina is not only the way she died – broken neck and broken front leg – but also the deteriorating form she had, though she came from an in-form stable that almost has no fatalities plus the fact that such races are televised world-wide.
This is the most upsetting part of the entire incident. I have to admit that I don’t know anything about the owner, so I guess they would be upset about her demise.
ERL, I know all your comments on this topic come because you care about it deeply, as do I
My thoughts here are that many horses that run every day have been out of form for a long time. In order for racing to have winners, there have to be lots of losers too. We can’t retire all the horses that show little aptitude for racing or that are out of form for a long time unless we want to end up with no racing.
People seem to be assuming that due to Grand Turina’s age she would never show any form again, but I don’t understand how they can be confident of this. She had shown good form in the past year as an 11 year old. Horses often have a string of poor runs only to suddenly bounce back to form.
I’m not aware of any statistics that show older horses are at higher risk of death or injury on the racecourse, though don’t know if this angle has ever been studied in depth. Sadly horses can have fatal falls such as Grand Turina’s at any age.
Re the owners, although I know there are a few bad apples out there, my assumption would be that they must be devastated about losing their horse unless we have evidence to the contrary.
I see little point in getting too bothered about the age of the horse.The stable had a fatality with the relatively young Franco D’Aunou in his first chase 3 weeks ago. Out of form horses do sometimes revive. Ballybegg brought a string of Ps to an end with his recent triumph. Poor Grand Turina was both getting on and out of form but I have some sympathy in them electing to persevere at a course she had won at the previous season. There are so many opportunities for race mares now too.
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