Yankee Eagle 127 down and out

ALAS! The 10-year-old Yankee Eagle is no more. It took all of 127 races for the Canadian-bred chestnut gelding to finally be euthanised after breaking a fetlock on the Arima Race Club Day 26 programme at Santa Rosa Park, Arima, on Saturday. But the $64 million question remains — how did this horse owned by Allan Madoo and trained by Fizool Hosein pass the veterinary surgeons to go to post in the Optional Claiming race, the sixth of the day’s nine-race card? According to knowledgeable turfites, Yankee Eagle sported tennis ball-size tendons, and should not have been allowed to race. But race he did in the 1350 metres event, and was prominent when his fetlock snapped, forcing Panamanian rider Nobel Abrego to make an acrobatic leap from the saddle to escape injury.

Fortunately, Yankee Eagle drifted to the outside of the ten-horse pack, or else it could have been catastrophic. Imagine the gelding in mid-division and this happened, not only would Abrego have been in danger but the other horses and riders as well. Messrs Gerard Ferreira, ARC president and his management committee unfortunately have yet another headache on their hands. Something must be put in place to avoid a recurrence of Saturday’s incident. The owners and trainers too owe it to the turfites and the dumb animals to have some humane sympathy and after a number of years and starts, to turn them loose on some farm.