Unknown illness kills Derby contender

[theHandpuppet]

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060424/SPT/604240382

Monday, April 24, 2006

Unknown illness kills Derby contender
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOUISVILLE - Kentucky Derby contender With a City was euthanized Sunday after the colt's condition from an unknown illness deteriorated, his trainer said.

Mike Maker said the colt became ill on Thursday. With a City was taken to the Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington on Friday, but his condition worsened, Maker said.

"They treated him for everything and ran tests on everything," Maker said in a statement Sunday. "They just don't know at this time. Hopefully, a necropsy will tell us more, but their feeling right now is that they're not so sure that they're going to be able to tell."

Maker said officials may not be able to determine what illness killed the Derby contender....

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[joeybee12]

1. I hate to hear stories like this...

...probably was a beautiful horse.

[Justpat]

2. They said he had diarrhea by the time he got to the clinic.

So if he had colitis, it is difficult to treat even if it is caught right away.

[theHandpuppet]

3. What makes colitis such a difficult illness to treat in horses?

I'll admit I really don't know much about horses. What a damned shame to lose a beautiful animal to an illness relatively easy to treat in other animals, especially with the great strides made in veterinary medicine.

[Justpat]

4. In horses, the toxins released into the gut often cause

the horse to founder.

I don't want to speculate on the cause of his death.
One report I read this morning also said he had seizures.

They are doing a necropsy on him.

[two gun sid]

5. Thoroughbred Times had a report of siezures also...

so hard to say what it is. I immediately thought of Colitis X but, I have never seen a horse with it so I don't know, I'm just speculating and guessing. I feel bad for the horse and his connections. You just never expect an young athlete to drop dead like that. Yet, every year you hear of it happening. I'd hate to be that trainer and make the call to the owners to tell them their Derby horse just died and we don't have a clue why.

[Justpat]

6. A couple of years ago at Saratoga Todd Pletcher

had two die from Colitis X. They never found out what caused it.

I used to work as a tech in an equine hospital year ago. The only patients we ever lost
there were colitis cases. Very tough.

[two gun sid]

7. I remember Pletcher losing a couple of horses...

a few years ago. Colitis X is such a strange disease or so I've read. It must be hard as hell to have your horse sick and you can't do anything for them. It knocks the guts out of me to see a horse with colic.

That must have been an interesting job working at a equine clinic. I'll bet you could tell some pretty good stories. You really should do a blog. Or a book.

Did you know that Bill Nack was working on a movie and a book about Ruffian? It was news to me.

[Justpat]

8. Some movie company was at Belmont last Thursday

filming some scenes for this movie. They had some dilapidated dark bay pony horse out on the pony track.
I hope they are not going to use some grade horse as a stand in for Ruffian. I really didn't see a horse
out there that looked like a thoroughbred.

The job at the clinic was great but a lot of work. Sometimes several days in a row with no sleep.

[aaronbees]

9. Some notes on the Ruffian film

source--> http://horseracing.sportsline.com/cbs/headlines/showarticle.aspx?articleId=8350
(It's about halfway down.)

ESPN wraps up filming of Ruffian

A crew from ESPN's Original Entertainment division spent four days at Belmont Park this week wrapping up the filming of "Ruffian," a movie depicting the career of the multiple champion filly who fatally broke down in a 1975 match race against that year's Kentucky Derby winner, Foolish Pleasure.

The film, which features actor Sam Sheppard as Ruffian's trainer, Frank Whiteley Jr., will debut June 4, 2007 on ABC and air the next night on ESPN. The air date is to coincide with next year's Belmont Stakes, scheduled for June 9. ABC televises the Belmont.

Ron Semiao, senior vice president of ESPN's Original Entertainment division, came up with the idea for a movie on Ruffian because, he said, "it is a good story that will move an audience. We as a network are very much involved in the sport of horse racing, and we felt this was a good movie to do, a good story that will resonate with an audience."

Ruffian won the first 10 starts of her career and was crowned champion 2-year-old filly of 1974 and champion 3-year-old filly of 1975. The match race with Foolish Pleasure brought a crowd of 50,764 to Belmont and was covered live on national television.

** Snip **

My thoughts: it would be hard to find a horse who looked as magnificent as her, that's for sure.