SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY — Trainer Jena Antonucci could have easily stepped aside Sunday morning and passed on a question about Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic)'s catastrophic injury in Saturday's GI Test S. That's now how she handled it.
After commenting on how pleased she was with the way her GI Belmont S. winner Arcangelo (Arrogate) worked five furlongs in 1:00.21 Sunday morning, Antonucci turned to how trainer Melanie Giddings has to deal with the loss of her star filly.
“I get chills,” Antonucci said, then paused to compose herself.
“Any trainer that has had it happen, it just brings you back to it,” she said. “To say no one deserves it, the horse does not deserve it, we are doing everything we can to steward the best possible lives and outcomes for every horse that is in our barns. I know that that filly meant a great deal to Melanie and the team, but it is so much bigger than that. I can't imagine the amount of prayers and support and I pray that she knows that there are so many people that will rally with her. I was glad to see her at the barn this morning and how you pull yourself out of bed in the morning after that.”
Antonucci, the first woman trainer to win a Triple Crown race, said that everyone in racing feels the pain from the tragic accident that happened near the wire of the Test.
“This is what is real,” she said. “You can villainize us and villainize this industry and everything else, but you cannot fathom the failure you feel as a human that we are doing everything we can to steward the best for our horses and then something freaky happens.
“I know personally–I am not going to speak for Melanie–you feel you failed them,” she continued. “I am very aware that the general public views this sport with a terrible light and they are entitled to their opinion, but I feel strongly that they're not entitled to label everybody in the way that they do. There is not a single human that puts a horse on a race track with the intent to harm, ever. Even nefarious people. To have it happen in that situation, with all the extra layers (of safety inspections), at the end of the day, we are going to do what is absolutely right in the stewardship for that horse.”
Antonucci said it is wrong and irresponsible for critics of racing to push the narrative that the sport exists and profits from something that leads to the deaths of horses.
“The enrichment these horses bring to us and everybody else is way beyond racing,” she said. “It is a relationship that we have with no other animal, since the beginning of time. They brought us through war. It is an amazing relationship that we have with this animal. I understand it is not their cup of tea and it doesn't need to be, but it's our cup of tea. And us continuing to educate everybody and explain to everybody everything we go through and do. These horses have more health care and more exams than 98% of the human population. Shitty things are going to happen. Just like someone can walk out their front door and get hit by a car.”
Antonucci said that racing needs to keep talking about the care race horses receive. She praised the way that the New York Racing Association and the connections of the winner, trainer Brendan Walsh, jockey Tyler Gaffalione and owner Godolphin, handled the incident.
“Everyone knows that that filly was the winner of the race and it just sucks,” she said.
“This is the cruelest of sports,” she said. “I have always said the 2-by-4 that hits you doesn't care where it hits you. The sport doesn't care about how you feel. It will make you check your mettle and check your constitution time after time. That is why I continue to say that my commitment is to doing the best that I can to steward the best possible situation for every horse that is in my barn. I don't think it's much different than that with almost every other trainer on this backside. The details and the depths that we go through to foster the best possible outcomes is like no other industry.”
Antonucci said she does not know Giddings well, but that one of her former assistants is a very good friend. She noted that Giddings has been able to return to the sport after a difficult struggle with cancer.
“I know her story,” Antonucci said. “She is a very good horsewoman and I know she will get through it. She has dealt with much bigger things and more important things in life than winning horse races. This was about a relationship she had with a horse and that is the story.”
Antonucci said that it is important to tell about the equine-human connections.
“It sounds so cliche to say she lost a family member yesterday, people are going to scoff at that,” she said. “But when your life revolves around another being–whether it's an animal or whatever–and that part is then gone, I can't give you words because the feeling that you have, gutted doesn't even do it. It stays for life. I can tell you every horse that I have lost.”
Antonucci said she worries about every horse she saddles.
“I always say a prayer,” she said. “Every race. Every time. Be blessed and be safe.”
Antonucci said what she does know about Giddings is that she doesn't want anyone to feel sorry for her.
“She wants the filly to be honored, and rightly so,” Antonucci said. “She is a strong woman. I know she will find another path.”
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