Another accident at Arlington
 

Just now, GBBob just called and Inez Karlsson on stretcher going to hospital...

Oh the PR storm a coming

that was really bad...

did they ever determine the other horse that went down?

Why do you say that? Was the cause a breakdown? What's Arlington's breakdown rate been this year?

yes breakdown in the stretch. just watched the replay on AP's website.

wow that was bad

Called me and said it doesn't look like she got stepped on or hit at all, but $hit she went down hard.

Can't do this today.

Nasty. Hope Karlsson is okay.

That's why I get irritated by people that chronically knock jocks.

that's good news because couldn't tell from the replay whether she got stepped on. Hope nothing's broken, as that didn't look good.

Have we determined that Polytrack is no safer than dirt yet???

Got word from AP that Inez gave a thumbs up when loaded in the ambulance. So it at least seems like good news that she's all there.

Will share anything else I hear.

From the press release they just sent out:

Lopez walked off under his own power and was fine, according to his agent John Christiano, while Karlsson, who gave a ‘thumbs up’ to the Memorial Day crowd as she was being placed in the ambulance, was taken to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights for precautionary reasons.

“I think she’s all right,” said Penny Ffitch-Heyes, Karlsson’s agent. “She can move all of her extremities, which is the main thing. They’ll sort out anything else once they examine her.”

It'll be interesting to see if the Chicago Tribune goes on another "smear" campaign like they did in 2006, assailing Arlington re: the breakdowns. Very ironic since that paper basically quit their racing coverage around 10 years ago but they couldn't wait to go wild with the breakdown stories. The PR was so bad, AP felt no choice but to put the synthetic surface in to appease the critics.

Hope Inez is ok.

I know this will sound melodramatic, but besides the obvious concerns for the jock and the horse, the most painful thing about these incidents is watching the children. This weekend Arlington had probably 15,000 each day, the majority families in the "Park" area...I wasn't there Saturday for Douglas' fall, but today after Inez went down in front of EVERYONE, there were children crying everywhere and families packing up quickly to head out. There is no way to avoid breakdowns, but to ask any family who was at the races for the first time today to come back again is asking a lot.

You really think that public perception outside the industry was the driving force for the installation of synthetic surfaces?

per DRF.com, Inez has been released from the hospital...

http://www.drf.com/news/article/104093.html

any news on the horses?

Really??

I don't think it is for all surfaces...but whether or not Arlington put theirs in to quell the outrage around Chicago, the fact remains that it was a HUGE PR move for them. It was almost like they had to based on what happened here the summer prior.

Can't say for sure, but Arlington's Polytrack installation came under and out of a very unique set of circumstances, so tossing Arlington's installation in with the point you're obviously trying to make is a bit misleading.

Seriously...kids by the rail were crying their eyes out and parents grabbed them and left..

Inez's horse must have been put down..too many screens for anything else. Courtwight tossed Lopez but then ran off ok

It's hard enough for adults much less children . The Douglas incident was reckless riding and clipping heels, not track related, I believe .

The point I'm trying to make is that maybe - gee, just maybe - the folks in charge actually give a damn about the lives of horses and jockeys.

As you know, I'm not anywheres near as bright as yourself.... what exactly is the point that she is "obviously" trying to make?

I understand the crying because seeing something like that would make anybody that cares about animals/humans upset.

The parents grabbing seems drastic on their part. Parents are nuts now days. I actually called one out on Facebook today as she was bitching about all the pictures of people drinking on the Arlington Park Live Facebook page.

Your kid is crying hysterically..there is a soon to be dead horse flopping around 30 yards from them and a jockey unconcisous 35 yards away. I would get my kids out as fast as possible too.

True, probably from the "I don't know what is going to happen so error on side of caution" angle....

Scav, If you ever have kids .... your perspective might change a lil....just sayin it could happen.... cause it did a lil with me

I know, I wasn't questioning it...

When you going to Vegas again,Scavs?

Possibly in November, but unlikely. There are talks for an ultimate vacation going down

Breeders Cup: Thursday Night, Friday, Saturday
Vegas: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday
San Fran vs Bears: Wednesday, Thursday
Back to Chicago: Friday

Of course. And I'm a big proponent of synthetic surfaces. Just saying that there is a difference between how Arlington did theirs and how other tracks did. Arlington had to do something. The two can very well go hand in hand, though Arlington's could very easily be viewed as nothing more than a PR move. To be honest, in their case, I imagine it was quite a bit of both. They didn't want breakdowns any more than anyone else did, but cynically, it was a brilliant PR move...the best they could have made.

I'm not disagreeing with you one bit, and didn't intend for it to sound like I was. I was just noting that the Arlington situation was a bit different than others in that regard.

Was her rhetorical question that tough for you to decipher? "No" is the point she was obviously trying to make....glad to be of service again on things like this for you, tiger.

Let me first say that I am a huge fan of Arlington's surface BUT they could have just redid the base and kept dirt, the problem wasn't the dirt, it was the bottom which was like driving on Higgins near the airport.....

Dick Duchossois doesn't do anything he doesn't want to do and doesn't believe in.

looks like both jocks in the spill are ok, just read that inez was released from the hospital-they found nothing wrong. but i'd imagine she's sore-or will be tomorrow.

not sure if anyone was watching lone star today, but flibberjibit was pulled up on the first turn. just read this:


"Flibberjibit was pulled up in the one-mile turf race with an injury to her left hind leg, one race before the Lone Star.

"She took a bad step on the first turn," said Wolfson, who said it appeared Flibberjibit might have sustained a condylar fracture. "I'll see when we get back to the barn if we can do some surgery on her. I don't know."

hope she makes it ok.

The next question is.......before the parents hastily ran their kids out of the AP picnic area, did they stop at a self service terminal to play the final race trifecta?

The dreaded curtain exists for a reason.
The kids get very upset with a horse flopping around.
Jocks down often lay there, but dont flail violently around like
a large animnal. Its very upsetting to kids down on the stretch
track level. The horses are supposed to be running
and the kids see them doing something very diff.

Even the little ones ask what is the horse doing, not usually
concern for the jock as it is not eyecatching.

that road makes a warzone look good :eek:

Watch some races from Europe and abroad if you want to see riders riding "tight". They ride whole lot closer to each other with alot more horses in the race so the whole blaming synthetic tracks for horses being bunched and that somehow causes more accidents is just stupid. Accidents happen , the guy didnt mean to drop him , he meant to beat him to the hole and 95% of the time things work out fine , this time it didnt .

Your kid is a lot tougher than those wusses, she wouldn't cry :p

Theriot isn't a dirty rider, and I'm sure him and Douglas are friends. I agree the accident involving those two was in no way surface related, however the Inez breakdown was different.

My kids only cry if they lose a bet.......I have no idea where they got that from. :o

I'll chime in here and probably get some heat but im sorry the track is really no place for small kids. Just to many bad things can happen like Sat. i was at CD on a Sat and something happen very similar and there was this family and the dad was holding the daughter who was crying her eyes out b/c she had "voted" on the horse that went down. It was truly heart wrenching and i left the track immediatley. I know that people think that to spur interest they need to bring kids to the track but im sorry i dont think there is any reason for a kid under 12 to be at the track. My future wife and i have discussed this and i told her no way would i take my kid till they are at least 12 and i can explain to them in a somewhat rational manner what has happened and that it is a tragic thing that happens but there is usually nothing that anyone can do. Just my .02