Horse's freak death at Churchill Downs blamed on track's new sound system: Report

A racehorse died Thursday at Churchill Downs after a freak fall that the trainer blamed on the sound of a starting gate bell blaring on the track's new sound system attached to the racetrack's vaunted new video board.

The 5-year-old mare Never Tell Lynda was walking toward the paddock on the dirt track when she reared, twisted and fell, hitting her head, said her trainer, Kenneth Wirth. She died before the first race of the day at the track that's home to the Kentucky Derby.

A heartbroken Wirth later said the horse was spooked by what he thinks was the sound of a starting gate bell coming from a commercial on the track's ear-blasting speaker system.

Churchill Downs recently debuted the world's biggest HD video screen  — the "Big Board," as it has been dubbed — and boasted about its 750-speaker sound system going into Derby week.

Towering 170 feet over the backstretch, the high-definition, $12 million video screen is bigger than three basketball courts and larger than any single panel of the giant display hanging above the field at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

"We teach horses to break from that," he said. "And you've got it on a loud speaker that everybody in a two-city block can hear. Well, what's she going to do? She thinks she's supposed to take off. And that's what she did. And when she did, she lunged and she lost her balance and went down."

The fall was not witnessed by any of the track veterinarians, but staff rushed to her aid, said Will Farmer, chief racing veterinarian for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

"It was quickly evident that this horse was in the process of expiring," he said. "To ease her suffering, one of our veterinarians euthanized her."

A necropsy will be performed on the horse, but the clinical signs matched the trainer's description, Farmer said.

Wirth said the sound system was "way too loud" at the time of the accident.

"The only thing you can blame is the music," Wirth said. "They've got to do something about it... The horses are the main thing here."

California Chrome's Triple Crown bid could hinge on nasal strip: Report

You might want to call this losing by a nose — or at least the nasal strip on it.

Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner California Chrome might abandon his Triple Crown bid if New York officials do not allow the colt to wear a nasal strip in the Belmont Stakes.

Trainer Art Sherman made no threats about the Derby and Preakness winner passing on a chance to become horse racing's 12th Triple Crown winner, but he suggested it was a possibility.

"I'd have to leave it up to the owners," he said Sunday. "I know they'll be upset."

While  California Chrome couldn't be stopped by a huge field at Churchill Downs or a tickle in his throat at Pimlico, this potential obstacle reared its head Sunday about whether the big favorite would be allowed to wear the breathing device in the Belmont Stake on June 7.

The Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner is 6-for-6 for trainer Art Sherman since being equipped Dec. 22 with a Flair nasal strip, which helps horses breathe more easily. He was 2-for-6 before that. Sherman said the colt doesn't wear it while training, and that it was co-owner Perry Martin's idea to use it. Sherman said Martin might scratch California Chrome from a Triple Crown bid if he's not allowed to wear the strip, which is legal in virtually all of this country's racing jurisdictions.

"That's going to be interesting. Perry is funny about things like that," Sherman said. "It might be an issue. I'm not saying it will be. I'll let the owners make the decision.

"They allow it [in New York] in harness racing but not for thoroughbreds. That's bogus."

The Daily Racing Form reported that Martin Panza, the New York Racing Association's senior vice president of racing operations, said Sherman made a formal request to Belmont Park's stewards Sunday afternoon to allow California Chrome to wear the nasal strip, and that the decision was expected within 24 to 48 hours.

The New York State Racing Commission's thoroughbred rule 4033.8 states: "Only equipment specifically approved by the stewards shall be worn or carried by a jockey or a horse in a race."

"I don't know why they'd keep you from wearing it," said Sherman, who was surprised when informed of the rule Sunday morning. "But we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Even if the strip were not allowed, it would be a stretch for the commission to scratch a horse just one victory from making history and in a sport which could really use the hype.

Sherman said he could run his star instead in the July 5 Los Alamitos Derby, joking, "Orange County would be pretty overcrowded that day."

Kentucky Derby-bound bachelor party finds dead body in rented RV

A group of Minnesota friends riding in a rented RV en route to Kentucky Derby for a bachelor party weekend made a gruesome discovery when they pulled over to investigate a foul odor.

Anoka County Sheriff's officials say the RV pulled off the freeway in Winona Thursday and found a man's body lodged in a compartment of the RV that was accessible only from the outside.

Officers with the Winona Police Department responded just after 10pm to the Shopko department store in Winona after receiving a call about a human corpse, reported the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

According to the investigation, the decomposing body was hidden in an exterior cargo bin. It has been taken to the Mayo Clinic for an autopsy and formal identification.

John Kirk, who was one of the 11 men traveling to the 140th running of annual triple crown race, told the newspaper that he and a few of his friends were instructed by the RV’s owner, "Rob," not to open the outside compartment because it did not work. 

But when the RV rolled into Winona to collect the last of the guests outside Shopko, they opened the bin, releasing a blast of the foul odor into the air.

"I opened it up and I saw two legs and they're bruised or decomposing," the groom-to-be Dan Trainor IV told the station KTSP.

Jake Wanek, of Minneapolis said he too saw the deceased man from the knees down, and that he "didn’t look fresh."

"We went on the trip with 11 and found a 12th when we got to Winona," Wanek said.

Police who arrived on the scene seized the rented RV as evidence along with the men’s personal belongings.

In a situation that must have felt like a scene from "The Hangover" or "Very Bad Things,"  the friends were questioned by police station for two hours before they were finally let go. 

The disturbing ordeal has somewhat derailed the buddies’ plans and — instead of continuing on to Louisville — Wanek said they would stay in Winona and catch the Minnesota Wild playoff hockey game before rolling on to Canterbury and watching the race from there Saturday.

"The last 24 hours takes the cake but this has been the most eventful, exciting, depressing, unbelievable, epic terrible week of my life," Wanek said on Twitter.

The last 24 hours takes the cake but this has been the most eventful, exciting, depressing, unbelievable, epic, terrible week of my life.
— Jake Wanek (@jakewanek) May 2, 2014

And the story has taken on a Twitter life of its own. The hashtag #CorpseInTheCargoBay chronicles everything that’s happened so far.

Despite the seemingly bad omen, Trainor plans to marry his fiancee in September.

UPDATE: Body identified.