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I watched the derby yesterday as I do every year...cried at the end. Eight Belles was a huge filly....biggest one that I have seen run in quite a while..and while she was huge her long legs were the usual, just not capable of carrying her own weight for that distance at that tender age. The way they seem to be breeding them for the last ten years or so. Running horses at two years old has been a bone for contention in the racing world for a long time. When I used to train riding horses we never started letting them carrying weight till they were two and their knees had "closed up"....basically fully formed, as it takes a horse till it is two to finish growing. I could go into much more technical detail but it basically comes down to running a horse that hard at that young of an age basically just breaks them down. Eight Belles had a lot of guts and ran her heart out and as one poster earlier said and it is a huge shame but her front legs just couldn't take it.
Rest in Peace Eight Belles.....hope you are running free and with the wind.
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