Quality Road's Breeders' Cup Freakout
Quality Road delayed the start of the 2009 Breeders' Cup Classic for 5 minutes when he decided he was NOT going to go into the gate. A few common tricks were used, but when the blindfold was put on and he found himself standing in the gate, he presumably panicked and lost his head, bucking and kicking and trying to bolt. Thanks to the assistant starters, a human hand was always clenched on a rein and he wasn't able to bolt off and run blind (literally) down the track and crash and kill himself. He was scratched from the race with a cut on a leg, and went down in history as the first (and so far, only) late-scratch in Breeders' Cup history. The horses were reloaded and Zenyatta blew away to win. I've never seen a gate mishap like this one. It's one thing to see a horse flip over and be lying down in there, but it's quite another when a 1100 horse has lost his head and puts himself and those around him in grave danger in a metal contraption.
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Comments on Quality Road's Breeders' Cup Freakout
Im amazed the other horses didnt start to freak out
He's such a rock star … with that long hair and attitude … Love and miss that dude!
@Nucleo85Torino Not at 10 furlongs he wouldn't have.
Couldnt ask for better handlers. They did their job and didnt push him. I have a feeling he just knew something wouldnt go right that day so he didnt want to race. Lol call me crazy..
the man who grabbed the reins the moment he exited the date is one great handler.
them men have guts O_O
@cnard791 LOL.. You were refunded. If you didn't take your ticket to the teller than that is your problem.
I bet this bastard and didnt get refunded because it was a gate scratch. I'll celebrate the day quality road takes a glue nap
Thank God for the starter who help onto the reins while QR shot out of the gate!! That horse was freaked out and blind folded and probably would have killed himself had he gotten loose and run out onto the track. I believe the gentleman who was holding onto QR received an award for his actions as well
) Glad everything turned out okay 
Quality Road of 2009 would have gave Zenyatta ALL she could handle. Shame he didn't feel like going in. But hey he doesn't wanna go…He doesn't wanna go!. I love Quality Road to death!.
@TangoAndAmber He just doesn't like the gate. Most horses love to run but the gate is a tramatic experinence.
Beautiful horse. I know the race must gone on and whatever but they're the ones who made it worse for him. Let him calm down soom, walk him around, pet him, talk to him. You can't forse a horse that big to do something he doesn't want to and he'll hurt himself trying to get away if he has to.
wow QR was never gonna give in! don't blame him, some horses are like that. hes still a beauty and a great runner!
And people claim horses like racing… Obviously not.
@WSBT960 they did… didnt u hear the guy say that they were putting on a blindfold and thats why it was so worrysome when the horse started to run in circles when they got him out of the gate because he culd see where he wass.
Where's the blindfold?!? Should've used it for him!
He'll finish out of the money this saturday. He's a miler who wants no part of 1 1.4, and Pletcher is an idiot for not entering him in the Dirt Mile race. 5th place at best this Saturday for QR.
:21 I wonder what he is thinking.
More from crashing into something and getting killed. idiot
v
@HorseCrazieGirl15 I'm not crazy about Chris Cox. In fact, I could care less about him.
@BarrelsPolesandJack
Chris Cox had a 2 episode special on gate loading it seemed to help the horse alot both on the track and off
Somebody needs to put this to music!!!!!!!!
Poor Quality Road. Hopefully this year he's okay about loading. He's been much better about it so far this year.
I hope he wins the Breeder's Cup! He lost his last race, but I don't think it was really his fault…. he's the best horse racing right now in my opinion.
This video footage is perfection ammunition for every animal rights activist to use against the horse racing industry. As mentioned previously, horses needed better training on how to safely and quickly load into the gate–you won't win a race if the horse hurts himself before it even starts. Furthermore, it's unfair to the other horse owners (and horses) when a neurotic horse can affect the outcome of a race by routinely acting up while being loaded.
@Kekira WERE YOU AT THE FUCKING TRACK DAMMIT
NOOOOOOO