Churchill Downs Suspending Well-Known Trainer Saffie Joseph And Scratching All His Horses Right Before The Derby Is 100% The Right Decision

So I'm not sure how much people have been following this week at Churchill Downs, but it's been a big deal in the horse racing world. There have been sudden deaths of a few horses, two of which belonging to Saffie Joseph. So Churchill decided to suspend Saffie two days before the Derby, scratch all horses including Lord Miles who was supposed to run in the Derby. It's 100% the right decision. Let me just say that. 

The number 1 thing in this sport is the health and safety of the horses. It's obviously a different world when we talk about this sport vs 'human' sports. So if you see something like this going on, you have to make this call. You have to scratch all the horses, do an investigation and make sure everything is okay. I love this sport. If I didn't think the horses were cared about, I wouldn't be around it. That's why this is 100% the right decision, no matter how close to the race you are. 

So what does this mean? For the Derby you get a real interesting horse in Mandarin Hero coming in to replace Lord Miles. Obviously as I mentioned there will be no Saffie Joseph horses in any of the races at Churchill. But Mandarin Hero is the interesting wrinkle here. We've seen AE's hit the board and have success in Derby. Mandarin Hero was the runner-up at the Santa Anita Derby and has had a ton of success. 

But for now this is the right decision. You have to look out for the horses. It's been a weird week and deserves an investigation. Do everything in your power to keep the horses safe. If you truly love the animals and truly care about the sport this is the only way to go forward.