Sadly, One Less Belle

Tragic. Ill fated. From now on Eight Belles will not be able to be written about without one of these modifers. They are accurate, yes, but as I said postDerby to my 5 year old niece who was struggling with grasping exactly what "put down" meant for the filly she was rooting on to beat the boys, Eight Belles died doing what she loved to do, what she was born to do. Though there may have been some pain and fear at the end (one hopes it was negated by post race adreneline) that qualifies, to me, as a good death. In her toughest race she proved she could not only run with the boys, she could beat 18 of them. I say let's try and remember that first, instead of simply making her a sad Derby history footnote.