Published: May 07, 2008 06:40 pm            

GLYNN: Veteran trainer views Derby tragedy

Several days after the most coveted event in thoroughbred racing, the Kentucky Derby, countless people are still talking about Eight Belles, the horse that finished second.

Minutes after crossing the finish line behind Big Brown, the filly shattered her front ankles as jockey Gabriel Saez galloped his mount out to the far turn.

“It was very sad,” said Nick Gonzalez, a widely-respected thoroughbred trainer in the U.S. and Canada, happened to be at Woodbine Race Track in Toronto, watching the live TV coverage.

Gonzalez has deep family ties to this area. His mother, Anne Gonzalez, the retired manager of the city’s tourist information center, still resides in the Town of Niagara.

“When a race like that is on the national stage, you’ll find that about 50 percent of the audience are knowledgeable observers and the other half are strictly novices,” said Gonzalez, who has overall responsibility for training 40 horses at Fort Erie and 20 at the Woodbine oval.

That fleeting shot of Eight Belles falling forward — obviously unable to withstand the unbearable pain — doesn’t accurately portray a typical day at the race track, Gonzalez said, “Breakdowns, unfortunately, happen but not that often,” he added, noting that an in-depth and impartial study shows the national average is two career-ending breakdowns for every 1,000 horses starting a race in the U.S.

One promising solution is the development of synthetic surfaces for race tracks. While far from perfected, the Polytrack installed at a track in Florence, Ky., was considered a vital factor in reducing the rate of fatal breakdowns from 24 in 2004-05 to three the following year.

In 2006, when Barbaro broke down in the Preakness Stakes, her death caused thoroughbred industry leaders to take a close look at synthetic surfaces. Several major tracks opted for that composition but at Churchill Downs, Louisville, Ky., spokesman John Asher explained that officials wanted to see data for four or five years before making any commitment.

Gonzalez is not just a skilled trainer defending his trade.

Active with the Horsemen’s Benevolent Protection Association, an advocate group, he has been strongly supportive of research efforts at the Equine College in Guelph, Ont., in studying the impact of track surfaces and what measures might be taken to prevent breakdowns. The HBPA has contributed nearly $200,000 toward those studies, he added.

Looking at an inherent problem, Gonzalez said: “Horses are bad patients. It’s not like after they undergo surgery that you can tell them to get more rest and drink lots of fluids. A horse coming out of anesthesia is bound to thrash around. That’s the horse’s nature.”

As for the decision to euthanize Eight Belles, Gonzalez said, even with the best equine technology in the universe, there was no chance of saving her. “You just can’t stabilize such an animal that weighs maybe 1,000 pounds and has spindly legs,” he added. “We love our horses and we’d do whatever we could to assist them.”

Lashing out at the jockey (Saez) also is unwarranted, in Gonzalez’s opinion. When horses like Eight Belles reach their peak, they tend to run as hard as they can. “It’s not so much the urging of the jockey,” he said, “That filly was so good, she just wouldn’t give up.” Some critics contended that Saez used the whip too much.

Gonzalez has dealt directly with hundreds of jockeys in his 35-year career and he is fully aware that they’re sensitive about their mounts too.

“And remember, the owners and trainers give instructions to them. No rider is going to abuse a horse,” Gonzalez insists.

Before that elderly woman in Porter asks (“Why are they so always quick to kill injured horses?”) or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals start to complain, they should perhaps hear the other side of the story from Gonzalez.

        

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