The OFFICIAL 8 Belles Thread: (Update: Glenn says maybe she's alive?)

[geerussell]

Now they're brothers in glue.

[WTFchris]

Was there any significance to Hillary and Chelsea rooting for the horse?

[Uncle Mxy]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpu...rys-horse.html

Hillary's Horse

Tragedy struck the first filly in the Kentucky Derby since 1999, as Eight Belles went down on the track after her second-place finish today, broke two ankles, and was euthanized.

Showing a sisterhood with the female horse, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., during a trip to Louisville this week had said she was going to bet on Eight Belles to win, place, and show.

ABC News' Karen Travers reports that Clinton told supporters in Jeffersonville, Ind., earlier this week, "I hope that everybody will go to the derby on Saturday and place just a little money on the filly for me. I won’t be able to be there this year -- my daughter is going to be there and so she has strict instructions to bet on Eight Belles."

Travers also points out that Eight Belles' trainer, Larry Jones, returned the love. "It looks like it could be the year for the girls," he said. "Eight Belles I’m sure would want to endorse."

The horse Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., picked to show -- Big Brown -- won the Derby.

Obama had picked Colonel John to win (he came in 6th) and Pyro to place (he came in 8th).

Chelsea Clinton attended the Derby. Kentucky's primary, which Clinton is favored to win, will be held on May 20.

[UxKa]

I'm going to be a lil serious here, and apologize but I was wondering...

Horses break their legs a lot racing. Back in the day everybody from Indians to Arabs were riding horses all over the place on rugged terrain and apparantly horses were considered the best mode of transport and the species survived. Pair that with the thought of how selective dog breeding causes genetic weirdness with some species. So, are horse breeders breeding horses to the point where they have weak leg bones? Or too strong of leg muscles for the bones to handle? These horses are running on flat dirt or grass and breaking legs all the time. It just seems fucked up.

[Vinny]

Well, the injuries happen I think at a rate of like 2 per 1000 starts. That's not negligible by any means but I doubt it's all that much higher a rate than horses got hurt back in the day when they were rode for transportation if we could figure out some way to compare the two.

Also, you may be on to something with the leg muscles but I'd imagine it's more a matter of how they're trained and ran much harder than horses should ever be run. They're taught and trained to put everything into every race and their trainers' and jockeys' incomes depend on their success so there's added motivation to push the horses harder and harder.

[Timone]

If there's no ODT, it didn't happen.

[Zekyl]

This is the ODT

[Vinny]

Then I guess it must have happened.

[darkobetterthanmelo]

It needs to say "The Official Eight Belles thread. Update: Dead"