We saw triumph and tragedy, all in less than a minute at Churchill Downs.

In 24 years of covering this event I have never seen anything so spectacular and so heartbreaking.

    Big Brown was so good he may win the Triple Crown. Eight Belles was so good we many never forget her. 

    She was every woman’s favorite in the Kentucky Derby, but in the toughest race in the world, there was a silent prayer, “please let her come back safe.” There is danger for every horse and rider in a race and after 134 years, the Derby paid the ultimate price.

     I knew something was wrong when I saw the red coated outrider gallop past the grandstand just after the finish. He was on the way to a tragedy,  and soon the equine ambulance rumbled by to confirm our worst fears.

     I started counting the horses returning to the finish line. I couldn’t find the five. It was the filly. On the far turn of the track, I saw workers put the shroud in place, a certain sign that a horse was fatally injured.

     As Big Brown returned in triumph to the winner’s circle, Eight Belles lay mortally injured on the track. In a time for cheering many people had tears in their eyes. I turned and walked out of the grandstand not looking back.

     As we walked thru the clubhouse, the grim news was spreading through cell phones. The beautiful filly was gone, now a sister in tragedy to Ruffian and Go For Wand.

     Sadly, the tragic loss, detracted from the moment of stunning achievement by Big Brown, a colt who has a great chance at winning the Triple Crown.

     Big Brown seemed to race in stalking position with great ease. He toyed with a field of the best three year olds in the country and then pulled away. There was never a doubt.  If you checked the esteemed Ragozin numbers before the race, you knew that Big Brown’s speed figures were far the best.

    Only Eight Belles had numbers that could compete, and compete she did, with her heart and her lungs and her fragile legs. She was tall and rangy and light boned and that made her fast.  The same combinations apparently made her vulnerable to injury.

    There are those who say this filly should not have been running in the Derby, that it was too far and too fast for a young filly. But she might have suffered the same injury had she been pushed hard in the Kentucky Oaks.

    And I was standing right on the finish line.  She was running straight and strong when she passed me. The jockey, Gabriel Saez, may have hit her once while I saw her, but to criticize the jockey is totally wrong.  If anything, he had wrapped her up as he approached the finish line.

   The normalcy of the finish was one reason that the breakdown was so surprising. No one saw it coming.  

    It did have a profound and saddening affect on our day. We hardly noticed the traffic on the way home. The tickets were stuffed in our pockets uncashed. We didn’t stay as usual for the last two races. There was very little talking.

   Now, we wish Big Brown the best in the Triple Crown. We wish Larry Jones the best as he recovers from this heartbreaking tragedy. And we will be back at Churchill Downs, but for a while, we will carry a heavy heart.  Eight Belles will always be with us.