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A23
SPORTS Thursday 16 January 2020
Breeders' Cup

Continued from Page 17 horses competed without
incident.
Four vets recommended "It is hard to fault a pro-
that he be euthanized. cess that had a 99.6% ac-
Bramlage noted it was curacy rate," Bramlage
"unlikely" that the track said, noting that of the 229
surface influenced Mon- horses that competed in
golian Groom's injury since last year's world champi-
it had recently been re- onships, Mongolian Groom
moved and re-done and was the only one to be in-
there was no significant jured.
rain at the time. He said the But Kathy Guillermo, senior
question of whether Santa vice president of People
Anita's surface predisposes for the Ethical Treatment
horses to an increased in- of Animals, said Mongolian
cidence of injury long term Groom was "raced to his
was beyond the scope of death" with two stress frac-
his report. Bramlage said tures.
Mongolian Groom had "This should never have
small stress fractures in both happened," said Guillermo.
hind cannon bones be- "If the racing industry had
fore the Classic, but they listened to PETA five years
hadn't caused any inflam- ago when we urged a trial Driver Carlos Sainz, of Spain, and co-driver Lucas Cruz, of Spain, race their Mini during stage
mation in the fetlock joint study of CurveBeam's CT nine of the Dakar Rally between Wadi Al Dawasir and Haradth, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Jan.
even though they were just imaging equipment, Mon- 14, 2020.
millimeters away from the golian Groom would likely Associated Press
joint surface. He said once be alive today."
the gelding's left hind frac- Guillermo also said PETA Sainz pads Dakar Rally leader
ture occurred during the isn't convinced that medi-
of events that created the Mongolian Groom's death. after rivals make wrong turns
race, it resulted in a chain cations played no role in
fatal injury. He said the de- Bramlage's six recommen-
fect in Mongolian Groom's dations were: SHUBAYTAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Dakar Rally leader Carlos Sainz took advantage
left hind cannon bone was — Pre-identify horses be- of navigation mistakes by title rivals Nasser Al-Attiyah and Stephane Peterhansel to
roughly one-quarter inch in fore arrival at the event give himself breathing space on Wednesday.
size and not easily spotted with histories of concerns to Sainz started the 10th of 12 stages leading Al-Attiyah by only seconds, but by the
on X-rays. It would have be looked at end of the day he was back in charge by 18 minutes against Al-Attiyah and Mini
taken a combination of — Focus responsibility for in- teammate Peterhansel.
confirming lameness and dividual horse exams. Sev- The stage from Haradh down to Shubaytah was supposed to be the rally's longest
X-ray proof to diagnose. en regulatory vets looked at 534 kilometers, but race organizers cut it short by just under 200 kilometers after
"It is not an easy task at any at Mongolian Groom a strong winds picked up and medical resources were stretched. Crashes by driver
time," Bramlage wrote, "but total of 10 times and Bram- Roman Starikovich (back) and biker Javier Gomez (broken femur) required both
is especially difficult in the lage concluded that had to be helicoptered to hospital.
circumstances of a pre- there been fewer people, When the rally was stopped, Peterhansel and Al-Attiyah had become lost and
race examination." a more focused assess- were just getting back on the right course.
Bramlage also found there ment may have resulted "The navigation has been really tricky for the whole rally," Sainz said. "It was a tricky
was "no reason to believe — Improve the quality of stage with a lot of cut-up dunes, but not big dunes – small dunes. We had a heavy
medication played any on-track observations lead- landing in one of them. We damaged the car a little bit, but everything is so far,
role in the horse's injury." ing up to the event so good.
During Breeders' Cup week, — Create space in the barn "I didn't really think the gap would be so big, but tomorrow is another day and the
Bramlage said Mongolian area where regulatory vets opposite could happen. If I get lost like what happened to the others today, or for
Groom was informally on could observe horses on me yesterday, you never know how it will finish."
a watch list for increased the extra security list jog in Al-Attiyah didn't hide his disappointment but remained upbeat.
observation, but he said a circle "It's still a long day tomorrow," he said. "Carlos will be opening and I'll be starting
four other Classic runners — Make diagnostic imag- in 17th position. It's very difficult to put the pressure on but we need to do a good
were on the same list. In all, ing part of the pre-race ex- stage first of all. Nothing is over yet. There is still a long way tomorrow with 80 kilo-
24 Cup horses — including ams for selected horses meters of sand dunes. Things will be difficult for everybody."
Mongolian Groom — were — Take advantage of all Peterhansel opened the way and took a wrong turn just 20 kilometers in. By the
on the list for extra scrutiny. available video footage of time he was back on track, Sainz had caught up to him.
Of those, eight were dis- horses before the event Former Formula One champion Fernando Alonso rolled his car and broke his wind-
qualified from competition. After the event, the Breed- screen. Losing more than an hour dropped him from 10th overall to 14th.
Three different officials ers' Cup board of directors Joan Barreda won the motorbikes stage only a minute ahead of Ricky Brabec.
made multiple obser- hired Bramlage, of Rood Kevin Benavides was third, giving Honda 1-2-3 on the podium.
vations that Mongolian and Riddle Equine Hospital By finishing second, Brabec increased his overall lead to 26 minutes over Pablo
Groom was "stiff" or "chop- in Kentucky, to conduct an Quintanilla, 27 minutes over Barreda, and 28 minutes over defending champion
py" from behind, but was evaluation of Mongolian Toby Price.
symmetrical in both hind Groom's pre-race condi- "We have two days left, two more sleeps, so I'm not going to get any hopes up yet,
legs, similar to his previous tion and injury, as well as all but we're going to do our best to finish the next two days," Brabec said. "We're not
two races. He was one of pre-race safety and evalu- going to let the pressure affect us and let people get into our heads. I wouldn't say
17 horses that had such is- ation protocols in place I'm having good luck, I'm just trying to stay smart and be focused."
sues on the pre-race barn for the two-day world The race finishes on Friday.q
exams. Sixteen of those championships.q