Big Brown has a quarter crack

[Justpat]

http://www.bloodhorse.com/article/45398.htm


He is to miss several days of training. It is being repaired by Ian McKinley the
hoof repair guru around here.

[two gun sid]

1. I heard that on TVG today...

I hope they are able to take care of it and it doesn't ruin his shot at the TC.

[aaronbees]

5. I hope he heals up quick and good

I'd hate for that to be the reason there's no TC winner. I want to see a real race with Big Brown looked in the eye on that Belmont stretch and either coming away a true champ or valiantly giving it all in a loss. We'll see what the racing gods have in store for us.

[two gun sid]

6. The Racing Gods owe me one....

they been kickin' me in the nuts for the last 29 years.

[aaronbees]

7. Yes, they do that to everyone

Kickin' us in the nuts or figurative nuts, so to speak. That's why we call them the Racing Gods. :D Confounding us all through the years! These gods must be crazy!

[greenbriar]

2. what does this mean?

what kind of injury is this? Does it hurt Big B?

[two gun sid]

3. Sounds like it's very small and BB is not having any discomfort...

Here's a link that has a video of a quater crack and repair. The crack in the video is worse than what it sounds like BB has.

http://hoofcare.blogspot.com/2008/04/quarter-crack-repair-why-hoof-impaired.html

[Justpat]

4. Here's the deal.

A quarter crack is a vertical crack in the hoof wall which goes from the coronary band down. The area
that horses get these problems is on the back of the hoof wall toward the heel area.

The crack that BB has is very small - they said 5/8 of an inch.

A horse can be pretty sore with it when it first pops out. Imagine something stuck under a fingernail,
like a sliver of glass. It hurts, but when the infected part of the hoof is pared away, the horse will
have immediate relief and walk away sound. Then the important thing is to make sure there is no
underlying infection under the hoof wall, so the blacksmith will cleanse the foot every day with
iodine and sometimes so other solution that they like to clean this up.

After they are sure the hoof wall is clean, they will put on a fiberglass patch,or some new age epoxy
stuff on the area, and it is then like having a new foot.

At this time, it does not hurt him. But he might have been a little sore when it first popped up.

[TZ]

8. Okay I bet he's okay for the Belmont

But after that race, the quarter crack will be worse and therefore he will be promptly retired. Isn't that how this always goes these days....

[Justpat]

9. Here is a good video of Ian McKinlay doing his thing on a quarter crack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QRmO0wXPCQ&feature=related

[aaronbees]

10. That looks gruesome

For a quarter crack that size, how long to heal? Sounds like Big Brown's crack is smaller.

[Justpat]

11. BB's quarter crack is 5/8 of an inch.

So it is way smaller than the one in the video. And the outer hoof wall is not sensitive to the drill or
anything. We have never had a horse even flinch while he was doing this.

Once the sore spot is pared away and the patch is applied, the horse goes straight back to work.
We have had horses go straight to the track after Ian worked on them.

The patch stays on and grows out as the hoof grows new wall and hopefully a healthier foot.

[two gun sid]

12. Decision on a jockey for Casino Drive put off until Wednesday...

Kent Desormeaux rode him in the Peter Pan. Hmmm. Curious.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Justpat]

14. I'm starting to like Casino Drive more and more.

Even if BB's quarter crack is totally repaired, he will have still missed a week of training
coming up to the biggest race of his life. Can't go for it, even with him.

He can pick those feet up and put them down for 1 1/4 or 1 1/8 without too much strain,
but 1 1/2 is a whole different matter. I didn't like hearing that he ran down behind
in the Preakness. They do that when they are getting off the front, so now we know
why he ran down.

I'll have to see how he is moving later in the week when he goes back to the track.

I'm pretty bummed right now.

[trumad]

15. I'm more curious about the deleted post up above...

anyone know what that was about?

[Justpat]

17. No, I didn't notice it until just now.

We have right wing trolls here too??

[TZ]

18. maybe

a passing troll from GD..ya know..the horseracing is cruel and elitist folk....:eyes:

[Justpat]

19. Yeah, a peta person most likely

come to pass judgement on something they know nothing about.

[two gun sid]

16. From Fran Jurga's "HoofBlog": ....

It's 12 days to the deciding race of the Triple Crown. We are on the verge of possibly the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. How wonderful it would be to have a new racehorse hero.

But...reports coming out of Belmont Park tell us that Big Brown has developed a quarter crack that is being disinfected and will be patched by specialist Ian McKinlay later this week when it is dry.

Hoofcare and Lameness received verification this evening from Ian McKinlay that the news is correct. Ian has posted some photos of the type of minor crack that Big Brown has on his web site for his Yasha shoes.

The irony here is that it was reported back in the winter months that Big Brown was suffering from quarter cracks on both front feet, when he actually had wall separations. This time, he really does have a quarter crack, apparently.

http://hoofcare.blogspot.com/2008/05/big-brown-may-have-quarter-crack.html

[Awsi Dooger]

20. We don't need another Spectacular Bid

A freakish horse who runs once inexplicable race, after a foot injury, to lose the Triple Crown.

There is an interesting parallel. I believe Coastal used the Peter Pan as a prep in '79, similar to Casino Drive. Coastal was the touted spoiler horse that year but Bid looked so invincible not many thought it could happen. Still, I remember an Edwin Pope column (Miami Herald) in which one major racing analyst called Coastal "a cinch" and that was before the safety pin.

You've gotta believe it can't happen again. Ten horses losing the Belmont since '78. Makes no sense at all. A couple of times the winner was a top horse, perhaps equal to or superior to the Triple Crown hopeful, like Easy Goer and Empire Maker, but results like Coastal and Birdstone, etc. fly in the face of probability.

I hope Big Brown is healthy and runs his race, but that this development encourages a larger, more risk taking field. It burns me beyond description that Big Brown might be able to waltz to Triple Crown immortality against cupcakes. Look at the Derby, two single digit contenders besides Big Brown -- Colonel John and Pyro -- and both of them vanish after the Derby, despite less than embarrassing efforts, 6th and 8th in a 20 horse field. Ridiculous.

[two gun sid]

21. Nice post, Awsi