In which I get politically incorrect about Eight Belles

I just quoted a Sporting News article that discussed Eight Belles' final moments. But in my last post, I left out portions of that Sporting News article.

Yes, I suppressed information. I censored it.

But now I'm going to reveal it.

This is something that you're not going to hear from Bob Costas. (Not that you'd hear anything from Bob Costas.)

And this is definitely something that you won't hear from any of the three major presidential candidates - especially the one who supported Eight Belles.

And even the Sporting News danced around the question.

But the question was certainly raised:

Eight Belles could have easily been the wagering favorite in Friday's Kentucky Oaks, an all-girl showcase. But Jones and Porter decided to run her against the boys despite the fact that she had never done so before. She had, after all,solid credentials with a four-race winning streak....

Afterward, Jones disputed any suggestion that Eight Belles had no business taking on the boys.

"It wasn't that, it wasn't the distance, it wasn't a big bumping match for her, she never got touched," he said. "She passed all those questions ... with flying colors. The race was over, all we had to do was pull up, come back and be happy. It just didn't happen."

If Eight Belles had labored to the finish line and been falling farther behind Big Brown in the closing strides, then Jones said he would have "really second-guessed ourselves severely and kicked ourselves in the pants."

But she hit the wire strongly....

Which brings us to an opposing view to the PETA view, expressed earlier in this blog as well as on Sharon Cobb's blog. Run Up The Score said the following:

[S]hame on PETA for trying to make Eight Belles’ jockey the bad guy. He’s just some guy on a horse, riding in his first Kentucky Derby. The bigger story is the pre-race arguing between the horse’s trainer, who didn’t think the filly was ready for the longer race (he felt Eight Belles should’ve raced in the previous day’s Kentucky Oaks race), and the owner, who badly wanted a horse in in the Derby. Leave the jockey alone, idiots.

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