Loose shoe latest twist to Big Brown saga
The mystery of Big Brown's stunning failure in the Belmont -- when the winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness fell so far out of contention after the final turn that jockey Kent Desormeaux eased him to the finish line -- took another strange turn over the weekend.
Two photos reportedly taken by freelance photographer Russ Milton were sent to one of Big Brown's owners, Michael Iavarone. They show the shoe on the colt's rear left hoof loose at least momentarily during the race. The hoof with the crack, which had been of concern leading up to the race, was the left front.
Deepening the mystery was that while there had been a report of a loose shoe after the race, the owner called that a miscommunication and an examination of Big Brown showed no signs of damage from a loose-shoe event.
Comments
Well, would not be the first time a horse managed to reset his own shoe, albeit a tad-misaligned from what the farrior intended. Just happy it wasn't one of those $550 a pair front glue-ons. Actually, feeling preversely good about this one, seeing how I blogged over at Blood Horse the week before the Preakness, cautioning Dutrow a thrown shoe might render his "can't miss, Babe" assessment moot. Either I was a start early or Big Brown a start late in rendering this assessment :-)
Posted by: Bryce Be Quick | June 23, 2008 2:26 PM
I watched the film on Channel 11 news yesterday, which clearly showed Big Brown's shoe flopping around. Now I wonder if trainer Dutrow apologize to jockey Desormeaux. Wouldn't it have been the trainer's job to make sure the horseshoes were on securely? Mr. Desormeaux is clearly vindicated on this one.
Posted by: Nurse Laurie | June 24, 2008 8:52 AM
When a farrier sets a nail in the hoof of an "ordinary" horse, the last part of the process involves using a special tool to curl the pointed end of the nail, which has been deliberately placed so that the point emerges from the top of the hoof, in the edge, which is "dead" keratin. (much like the end of a fingernail)
This curl in the end serves to anchor the nail, where a straight one would pull out earlier.
Are the nails used for racehorses different? If not, then several of the nails in the outside half of the shoe in qestion pulled their little curved end back down into the hoof, and if walking on concrete "re set" the nail(s) the curls would surely have visibly disrupted the upper surface of the hoof as they emerged, to say nothing of the gouging they would have made in pulling out in the first place.
As for resetting in "a different place" as the horse's owner speculated; it is difficult to imagine a nail with a curved over tip going into a hoof at all, nevermind straight up into the non-living edge without either "following" its curved end towards the outside of the hoof, or worse, corkscrewing around randomly without entering the live part of the hoof, laming him temporarily.
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Thanks for the information.
-- Bill O.
Posted by: Ed Norris | June 26, 2008 11:56 PM