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Running well when fell and broke a leg at Haydock yesterday. Commiserations to connections.
I’m trying to find out – have emailed the Pipes. I wish TV and Racing Post would be more informative about what happens to fallers etc … they go into minute details about high profile horses like Kauto and his fetlock and I wish they would realise that many racing fans want to know about the also-rans …
Like all things these days they run on a tight budget and probably don’t have the staff to go checking on every horse that falls. The race course should be the ones announcing the well being of horses after a fall not the TV. You would think they could post an hourly bulletin throughout the racing day so everyone knew what was going on.
Hang on a minute – all they need to do is LOOK – if the screens are up they know a horse is down so wait and see if the horse gets up and walks away or not … they don’t need to employ extra staff surely????? I thought the racecourse did put bulletins up … I know Aintree does. I’ve emailed Haydock.
Sadly poor Sixo apparently broke his back – there is absolutely NO excuse why Racing Post and TV channels – BBC and ATR could NOT report this as it would have been obvious that Sixo had not got up … ATR ran the replays and never mentioned Sixo’s fate.
Sixo, an 11yo grey Roselier gelding out of Miss Mangaroo (a 2m4f hurdle winner in 1992 for Mary Reveley), won four races from 15 career starts and a total of nearly £22,500 in win and place prizemoney. He was owned throughout his career by Matt Archer and also Jean Broadhurst prior to her untimely death.
Sixo won his first two bumper starts at Newton Abbot and Newbury in late 2002, both on heavy, and improved on those efforts again to register a Racing Post rating of 130 when third to Cornish Rebel in a Grade 2 bumper at the latter track the following February.
Further career victories followed in the shape of a 2m Sandown novices’ hurdle in December 2003 (good to soft) and a 3m2.5f Chepstow beginners’ chase in January 2005 (heavy; chase debut), but he never really came close to winning a significant prize in either discipline despite earning Official Ratings of 129 and 130 in each respectively.
Nevertheless, he started the 13-2 third favourite in the 2005 National Hunt Chase, only to crash out at halfway – he was absent until January of this year following that fall, but clearly regarded as good enough to bring back and indeed hold both Aintree and Welsh National entries.
RIP Sixo.
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Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Sadly poor Sixo apparently broke his back – there is absolutely NO excuse why Racing Post and TV channels – BBC and ATR could NOT report this as it would have been obvious that Sixo had not got up … ATR ran the replays and never mentioned Sixo’s fate.
Very sad news but mate you are way of the mark….how do you know how much staff they have? Or what were they told by the producer or director to concentrate on………….it’s not a perect world and you don’t always get what you want………..if you were in the job they are would thigs be different?………no they wouldn’t…………I’m all for change and progress but stop being so damn critical without being aware of all the facts. Life isn’t that easy.
You are concerned which to me makes you a nice guy but hey!!…..said it already
Ten Plus,
There are quite possibly individual policies for each of the terrestrial and satellite channels, and the assorted trade press, as to how widely (if at all) they broadcast news of fatalities. In the absence of published "scratchings" nowadays, I would far sooner all fatalities were called as such, but accept this hasn’t happened across the board for a very long time now.
Equally, each racecourse has its own policy as to whether it wishes the commentators assigned to its meetings to highlight – or even hint at – any possible harm that may have befallen horses.
It all ultimately depends how twitchy they are about admitting that the unfortunate, deadly side of racing does actually make its presence known every so often.
Wincanton appears to be quite prepared to let its commentators broadcast when something terrible may have occured, judged on Simon Holt mentioning straight away that the unfortunate Piamontini had gone, and I quote, "very badly wrong" in the opener at that venue yesterday. The horse had indeed broken a leg.
Other courses are rather less comfortable to admit the worst. Market Rasen is one known example, and for all I know Haydock might be as well. Judging on how many of the beer-sodden vermin cheer anything that falls at the Lancashire venue (and you may have heard them whooping with delight into Ian Bartlett’s FX microphone when Robin Du Bois took a – thankfully harmless – fall there yesterday), I wouldn’t necessarily blame them for that.
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Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
If Leemac is reading this thread perhaps he could tell us if there is a Raceform policy on mentioning fatalities.
From what I have seen, some race readers mention if a horse has died whilst others do not.
A Jeremy pointed out different courses seem to have different policies – personally I think the truth, no matter painful, should be told. Sweeping such events under the carpet and maintaining an ostrich mentality does nothing constructive and merely undermines credibility in the sport.
Precisely, Paul, and it also invites further criticism from those without the same best interests of the sport at heart to damn us all as covering up such fatalities – "Aintree – What They Don’t Want You To Know", and other such corrosive headlines.
There doesn’t exist any such doubt in point-to-points – if I see a horse sadly meet its end during my race-reading stints, it gets called as such. If I’m in doubt, I gently enquire with the vet however soon after racing is tactful. It’s one of the noticeable areas in which the practice within the amateur sport is rather more transparent than it is within its professional equivalent.
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Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
I remember many years ago, when Julian Wilson was commenting on the Grand National, approaching Bechers second time round, he remarked live on the BBC ‘They’re being sent wide to avoid a dead horse’ or something like that, and that remark was actually removed from the repeat showing the same evening. I’m not sure if it was removed due to complaints, or whetner the Beeb have a policy of not naming any fatalities.
Darren – AngloGerman
I remember it well, Darren – it was the 1989 renewal, after Seeandem and Brown Trix had perished at Bechers first time. I think the problem had been caused by the inability to remove the latter from the landing side in good time.
They blanked the soundtrack out the first time they repeated the race. By the time of the traditional late night re-run later that day, Wilson had re-recorded that section completely, going over the "dead horse" section with some innocuous comment about how close a race it was at this stage.
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Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
David Pipe has updated his website this morning and made no referrence to the horse’s unfortunate demise.
I stand by original comments and would be very interested if Leemac would respond – I think he did to a similar thread concerning Rasharrow. I have loved horses since I first knew what one was and have been a racing fan for MANY years during which I have reported on point-to-points. I always followed up non-finishers. I accept that the sport is very risky and fatal injuries to the horses are going to happen. All I am asking is that these are reported sensitively. Poor Sixo’s fall was not edited out of the replays and all that was needed was a sympathetic acknowledgement of his fate.
I remember it well, Darren – it was the 1989 renewal, after Seeandem and Brown Trix had perished at Bechers first time. I think the problem had been caused by the inability to remove the latter from the landing side in good time.
Thanks for that Jeremy. Yes, it’s all slowly coming back to me. If I remember correctly, Brown Trix was amateur ridden by a guy who was in his 50s called David Pitcher or something like that, and many people seemed to blame him for Brown Trix’s death.
Darren – AngloGerman
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