Events After The 2008 Kentucky Derby
Eight Belles collapsed immediately after crossing the wire, while being slowed after the race. She suffered compound fractures of both front ankles and was immediately euthanized because of the nature of her injuries.
Dr. Larry Bramlage, the on-call veterinarian, claimed that Eight Belles' trauma was too severe to even attempt to move her off the track.
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Bramlage said the filly had fractures of the cannon and sesamoid bones in both front legs. That is the same type of break that was suffered by 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro in one leg.
Eight Belles was buried and memorialized in the garden of Churchill Downs' Kentucky Derby Museum on September 7, 2008. A race has been renamed in her honor, and was run on the Derby Day 2009 undercard as the Eight Belles Stakes.
Read more about this topic: Eight Belles
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