obstacles Orb must face before race

Just a short list of roadblocks that Orb and his connections must navigate


1) he gets cast in stall, potentially dies or injures himself
2) colics.....can happen at anytime, anywhere....horses are intestines on four legs
3) breakdown on routine morning gallop
4) kick stall, bruise foot
5) hot nail, farrier messes up
6) spooked by almost anything and everything, rares up and tips over
7)sponged
8) grabs himself (not balls) during routine workout
9) suddenly has reaction to pre race medication
10) injured coming in and out of stall
11) collides with loose horse on the track during morning gallops
12) spikes fever, comes off feed for several days
13) joins union and refuses to run until conditions improve
14) horse get loose on backside while Orb is grazing or cooling out after gallop, sppoks Orb, takes off and collides with hay wagon
15) slips on wash rack, injures himself
16) walking down shed row he get savaged by random horse in stall
17) While being vaned from Belmont to Pimlico, accident or traffic jam that sets him off
18) decides he doesn't want to train....yes it happens
19) hurt while loading or exiting shipping van
20) dirt claude throw off by another horse during morning work hits Orb in the eye

I could keep going....but why? I spare you the "what can go wrong during a race"........

#13 Jockeys had no choice but to form a union. In the 50's and 60's in Maryland, on sloppy or frozen track that were definitely very
dangerous, any jockey who refused to ride would be blackballed by most owners or even suspended.

Orb may be even-money on the morning line. I like his chances because his last two wins were big wins. Tom Ansile defined a Big Win
as a horse who did not have the lead at the stretch call and won by more than 2 lengths.

Florida Derby 2by 2&1/2 - 1st by 2&1/2
Kentucky Derby 3 by 3 - 1st by 2&3/4
Churchhill stretch 1235feet
Pimlico stretch 1152 feet

Gulfstream stretch is only 898 feet and Orb got up to win .

Big Brown was 1/5 in the Belmont and even today nobody has a valid reason why he stopped ?

Big Brown joined a union at the 1/2 mile pole.

I think Orb will do it. Of course, I thought Barbaro, Smarty Jones, Funny Cide.....

I remember a horse race where William Hartack refused to ride a horse after the post parade. Another jockey took the mount and the odds-on favorite ran dead last.

The steward's ruling : Bill got a 7 day suspension.

Quote: Buzzard

Big Brown was 1/5 in the Belmont and even today nobody has a valid reason why he stopped ?

There was the quarter crack and (From wiki):
Two weeks after the Belmont, a picture revealed a dislodged shoe on Big Brown's right hind leg that could have been the cause of his poor performance. The shoe might have come loose during the race and gotten pushed back in while he was running.