Horse euthanized at Kentucky Derby

Big Brown wins, with Eight Belles second and Denis of Cork third. Due to severe injury, Eight Belles was euthanized on the track. By Maryjean Wall

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Eight Belles was euthanized on the track near the seven-eighths pole, on the far side of the turn near the start of the backstretch where she fell with her rider, Gabriel Saez.

The filly suffered compound fractures, according to Dr. Larry Bramlage, on-call veterinarian for the American Association of Equine Practitioners.

“There was absolutely nothing you could do,” Bramlage said.

Saez said that after the wire, after he stood up in the irons as jockeys do when they begin to ask their horse to slow down beyond the finish, “she started galloping funny and I tried to pull her up, but she went down.”

Filed under: pets in the news on May 4th, 2008