[jaysay]

Originally Posted by racerlass

hi all. im not normally on here but thought id join purely to give my point of view as i work for a very sucessfull trainer. i was also present on sat as we had horses there. what happened to the boys was just awful. nobody likes seeing a horse injured fatally and those of us who work with and look after them are always devastated when something horrible happens. believe me there is nothing worse than returning baxk to the yard without the boy or girl you look after on a daily basis. alot has been made about synchronised ''throwing'' tony and ''bolting'' off. first of all he did not throw him, he simply shyed, moved a quick step to the side and dropped his shoulder. this happens to riders all over on a daily basis. a horse shying is the same as something making you jump. its an involuntary movement. sync than decided to go for a little outing. he didnt bolt off, bolting is galloping flat out normally in a panic. he simply went for a canter. he didnt appear to be distressed. he was on his toes and having a look round on his way back up, most ,likely wondering where his friends had disappeared too! racehorse are always ridden out in strings together. they dont like being alone. so when he was backing off the fence when tony was trying to show it to him it was a simple case of him wanting to get back to the group. my personal opinion is that he shouldnt have been entered. he had won the gold cup a month earlier. i believe he should have been left until next season. i find it very upsetting that some people believe all aspects of racing are bad. i cant make excuses for what happened on sat but i can assure you they love what they do, they are not in anyway abused, they want for nothing and they recieve top quality care from everyone involved from us lads and lasses right throught to massage people and vets. i dont believe lowering the fences would be a good idea. bechers has been lowered and i actually believe it has caused more problems as now ather than spreading out across the whole fence evryone was trying to jump it on the inside which im sure contributed to pete being brought down by another horse. my personal opinion is the main thing that needs changing is the size of the field. ive looked i to satistics and even a 5 horse reduction would appear to make a much safer race. i hope i have cleared up a few things regarding the start of the race for you and i hope tyou will also believe me when i say everyone involved with these horses loves them very much, right from the rich owners to us lads and lasses

I'm not really a race fan but thanks for that, sure explains a lot of misconceptions