Sam Griffiths won the Misubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials in England last weekend. His horse, Paulank Brockagh , wore a nasal strip during the cross-country phase. The same strip would not be allowed on a racehorse in England. Likewise, equipment in the US is regulated by individual racing jurisdictions. New York has not allowed the patches in the past.
For want of a nail the shoe was lost; For want of a shoe the horse was lost; For want of a horse the battle was lost; For the failure of battle the kingdom was lost All for the want of a horse-shoe nail.
-Unknown
Can you make that, “All for want of a nasal strip, the Triple Crown was (almost) lost”?
You know it’s a slow news day when a racehorse story is broadcast twice every half hour on CNN, especially when the race is all over.
California Chrome’s needy nostrils are the biggest horse health story since Barbaro. And it’s a sticky situation. We barely had time to celebrate the chestnut’s spectacular win in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes when the prospect of a Triple Crown winner was snatched away by the rumor that he might be a non-starter in the Belmont Stakes.
Would New York racing stewards allow the colt to run with his precious Flair nasal strip stuck on the end of his nose? We held our breath.
Equine exercise physiologist David Marlin, PhD, explains the use of nasal strips in this video, which was sponsored by Flair, makers of the nasal patches used extensively in the United States.