Retirements and Departures 2013

michael_o said:
They are to be congratulated for their huge efforts in trying to save him. But the instant I saw him hit the deck, I thought "oh god". RIP Matuhi.

The Pipes (fils et pere) are having an absolute nightmare.
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Not according to Ted Walsh in a paper today. Quite frankly did he think before he spoke?
 
In essence he said the long run to the second fence with the first (bypassed because they were still trying to save Matuhi) meant they were going too fast. The thought was that the stricken horse should have been put down sooner. Aside from those you must commend Cheltenham for providing the best medical aid for jockeys and horses. My prayers for JT, his family and all his friends. It was touching how everyone at Cheltenham cared so much.
 
Rosefinch said:
In essence he said the long run to the second fence with the first (bypassed because they were still trying to save Matuhi) meant they were going too fast. The thought was that the stricken horse should have been put down sooner. Aside from those you must commend Cheltenham for providing the best medical aid for jockeys and horses. My prayers for JT, his family and all his friends. It was touching how everyone at Cheltenham cared so much.
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What a dickhead Ted Walsh is - if they thought there was a chance the horse could be saved they were absolutely right to do everything to save it . The idea that contributed to JT's accident strikes me as utter crap even at his exalted level of crap :mad: It was just bad luck Galaxy Rock is generally a sound jumper . It would also suggest that 2mile chases should be banned as they will be definition always be going too fast.
 
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Ardross said:
What a dickhead Ted Walsh is - if they thought there was a chance the horse could be saved they were absolutely right to do everything to save it . The idea that contributed to JT's accident strikes me as utter crap even at his exalted level of crap :mad: It was just bad luck Galaxy Rock is generally a sound jumper . It would also suggest that 2mile chases should be banned as they will be definition always be going too fast.
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It was in the Telegraph I think if you can find it, it reads far worse when you actually can read all of it.
 
G-G said:
It was in the Telegraph I think if you can find it, it reads far worse when you actually can read all of it.
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Fortunately I cannot . I should be more charitable I suppose - perhaps the fact he was so upset about what happened to JT led him to make such misconceived remarks.
 
If that run to the first - around a bend of course was considered any sort of risk before the race then surely the Kim Muir could have been put back for 15 minutes .Nobody considered it as such.

I suppose that Walsh would regard the English as unduly sentimental about horses and that in Ireland the horse would have been put down more quickly .
 
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Just listen to yourselves - maybe Ted Walsh's view would have received more sympathy had it been a horse that had broken its neck?
 
It's easy to take a strong view with hindsight. No-one will ever know for certain whether the extended run to the first had any bearing on Galaxy Rock's fall or not. For all we know it could have happened at any fence.

Being charitable, Walsh may have been talking from emotion and/or provoked for a response by a journo eager for a different angle. It's often a natural human reaction to look for someone to blame in the aftermath of disaster. But it's not particularly helpful to JT or his family to go stirring up controversy when they have other priorities right now, so it would have been more appropriate for Walsh to keep his mouth shut.

IMO, of course.
 
edgt said:
Other racing folk at the races made the same point to me.
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That is true, it's not just Ted Walsh saying it. It's not something that would have occurred to me but several people I met made the same remark.
 
First class article by Brough Scott in the Festival pullout in the RP today about all aspects of the Festival, overclouded by this awful incident of course, and he feels it is one aspect that may have contributed to the incident. But who can say ?
 
He's saying that if they had put the horse down so the first fence could have been jumped, JT wouldn't have fallen. That's clearly crap. He has no way of knowing what would have happened, or that the same scenario could happen a hundred times with no ill consequences. I am sure all anti racing people would love to hear a horse was put down so it wouldn't interfere with the first jump in the next race due off.
 
The horse had been put down by the time the race was off - but they didnt take him away until after the race. They moved the screens as far over as they could (and dollied the fence off) but they couldnt take the screens down, cos understandably people object to seeing a tarpaulin with a dead horse under it in full view. You could quite clearly see the covered horse under the screens though (I was stood at the rail directly level with it!) cos the screens weren't down to the floor (think someones feet must have got in the way) Theres also no way they would have been able to take the screens that close to the inside rail with a live horse being worked on behind them. I did wonder about where the trailer was to take him away - but I suppose it got to a point where it was too near the time to be able to bring the tractor and trailer in,so they had to do it later.

Very sad for everyone connected with him - and it was an incredibly ill considered contribution from Ted Walsh, who is going lower and lower in my estimations the more I see him or things about him. I really hope hes had a number done on him by the journo and he didnt say that at all.
 
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He's saying that if they had put the horse down so the first fence could have been jumped, JT wouldn't have fallen.
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Not true, and it's important to be accurate about such a sensitive matter.

What he did say was that the longer run allows horses to get revved up and go all the quicker, and he noted that the run to the first in the Grand National has been shortened for this reason.
 
Grey said:
Not true, and it's important to be accurate about such a sensitive matter.

What he did say was that the longer run allows horses to get revved up and go all the quicker, and he noted that the run to the first in the Grand National has been shortened for this reason.
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Grey - there is simply no comparison between the speed they have been going in recent years to the first in the National with the speed they went to the first fence in the KIm Muir . It will have been a great deal slower than the speed to the first in the Grand Annual for example.

In any event , the idea that Matuhi should have been put down just so a race could go off on time and all fences be jumped is grossly offensive if the horse had still been undergoing treatment . trudi says he had already been put down in which case the proper course would have been to have delayed the race if there was a risk .

Furthermore , there have been on occasions in the autumn when the fences in the home straight have been bypassed due to low sun and there has never been any suggestion that this was a risk to then have to jump a fence on the circuit .

I am afraid to me it smacks of seeking to blame someone or something for a pure accident and is very badly timed at best and misconceived.

Finally, only Galaxy Rock fell - none of the others did unlike the common carnage at the first at Aintree .
 
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Cheltenham racecourse issued a statement saying they tried for two hours to save him and that they had actually got him standing only for him to collapse again. That being the case the horse could not have been dead when they started the next race.
 
In any event , the idea that Matuhi should have been put down just so a race could go off on time and all fences be jumped is grossly offensive if the horse had still been undergoing treatment .
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Agreed, Ardross, but nobody said that either, nothing was said about the race having to go off on time, but there comes a point when you have to balance one risk against another.



I am afraid to me it smacks of seeking to blame someone or something for a pure accident and is very badly timed at best and misconceived.
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I doubt he was looking to blame somebody. He is a very experienced rider and father of one of the great jockeys. He knows what the risks are, in my opinion his interest is to point out a small way of reducing them.
 
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They might well have released that statement (though thats not what they said on the board,that just said they were sorry to report that everyone had tried to save him but he had suffered irrepairable spinal damage and had to be humanely destroyed) - but they cant have done DG - he fell in the 4pm race (4.05 according to RUK), and he was long gone by the start of the XC - even allowing for the delay with JT, that wasnt 2 hours (it finished at near 6pm - ive just watched to check Im not going totally mental - I know I was cold but even so!!), without waiting for the tractor to arrive and take him away.
(plus - there were no feet on the floor by the tarpaulin (if it wasnt tarp, it was bloody well startched blankets!) covered horse sized object on the floor behind the screens and absolutely nobody in a hurry to get anywhere,not even the second vet when he went across the course and behind them. I was looking harder under there than I was anywhere else, cos I was hoping to see four upright horse legs - sadly, all I saw was the pre-mentioned tarp. :( )

Anyway, sadly its academic now, all the debate in the world wont bring the horse back or help JT.
 
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Well I suppose its possible he was back down by then and they were trying to keep him warm during the race and all they had was a tarpaulin....

For anyone still remotely interested - he was taken away (in the green trailer which Im 90% certain isnt the horsebulance, the one I went in there with my injured horse was a normal white one (though its possible that they have their own now and they are a much more regular trailer shape) - and it certainally didnt take much time at the screens if it was loading a live horse with groom to take back to the stables, nor did it leave as if it had a seriously injured horse in it) just after 5pm - my friend asked me to text her and let her know what was going on, and it was then that my reply to her was " :( hes dead. Well, hes in the green trailer rather than a horsebulance and its all cleared away now"

but as i said earlier - all this is academic. :(
 
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