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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Tragedy struck the Kentucky Derby yesterday when least expected. Eight Belles, facing colts for the first time as she tried to become just the fourth filly to win the roses, finished second, well clear of the rest of the field.
But as the daughter of Unbridled's Song - trained by Larry Jones, who won Friday's Kentucky Oaks with Proud Spell - was pulling up under jockey Gabriel Saez, she shattered both front ankles and fell. The injuries were catastrophic; Eight Belles was put down as she lay on the track.
"She had finished the race and was around the [clubhouse] turn," said Dr. Larry Bramlage, the track's on-call veterinarian. "Both front ankles just collapsed. It was obvious from the physical examination that she had fractures in the left side that went through the skin. The right side had a fracture and at least one of the sesamoids was broken.
"She didn't have a front leg to stand on to be splinted and hauled off in the ambulance, so she was immediately euthanized. There was absolutely nothing you could do."
Bramlage said the injury was very unusual.
"It's so far after the wire, and she was easing down like you'd like to see at that point. Then all of a sudden, it goes over the brink in both legs," he said. "I haven't seen anything like this before."
Eight Belles is the first horse to suffer a catastrophic injury in a Triple Crown race since Barbaro shattered his right rear leg in the Preakness two years ago. He survived for eight months, battling the hoof disease laminitis, before he had to be euthanized.
In yesterday's Alysheba Stakes at Churchill, the colt Chelokee - trained by Michael Matz, Barbaro's trainer - broke down in the stretch.
Chelokee, who dislocated his ankle and had extensive soft-tissue damage, has a 50-50 chance of survival.
ed.fountaine@nypost.com
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