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Horse Racing Twitter has responded to the news of Medina Spirit's sudden death this morning at Santa Anita Park:
I've typed a bunch of things and deleted them. The long and short of it is we need to be better than this. We owe it to the horses and to the future of this sport.
— Jessica Paquette (@jmpaquette) December 6, 2021
An honest question: As a member of the TB industry today, what do you say to non-racing family and friends who, after today's news & considering the past few years of bad PR, have deep concerns about your profession? It's not rhetorical, I genuinely want to know.
— Leah Alessandroni (@Allison_Droni) December 6, 2021
Well well well… The haters are going to lose their minds. They all rushed to judgement about Bob. Fact is Baffert is so much better than the rest of the trainers. Get used to it. There isn't any funny business going on. He is the 🐐 @TheNYRA @ChurchillDowns https://t.co/RluKN3Jdkb
— kyle ferraro (@kyleferraro99) December 4, 2021
You know who my heart breaks for? All my trainer friends who do right by their animals on a daily basis. Who treat them like family. They unfairly get cast into this huge net of doubt because of a few moral free people who want to just win at all costs. It's truly sickening.
— Sean Patrick Nolan (@SPNnation74) December 6, 2021
The @TODAYshow posted an article on Medina Spirit & within 30 minutes had 161 comments. I read them all. 160 are anti-racing. 1 was pro. That's just a tiny snapshot, the same responses are happening all over social media. TB industry needs to decide if it wants to live or die.
— Leah Alessandroni (@Allison_Droni) December 6, 2021
I know most of you follow me for Saints news, and I had to attend something in the early afternoon so I was busy, but the Medina Spirit stuff is getting to me. This isn't right. This shouldn't get a free pass. The entire saga is so sad and the horse was the victim of it all.
— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) December 6, 2021
I was a fan of Medina Spirit, the horse. He was a fighter and overacheiver, who made you want to root for him, the horse, despite everything going on around him. I'm sad for the horse, and sad for our sport. What a crushing way for this story to end.
— David Aragona (@HorseToWatch) December 6, 2021
This is one of the wildest fuckin' takes I've seen all day. https://t.co/A2q7rToYs0
— Nicole (@Nicole__Meiner) December 6, 2021
It's pretty sad that SNL did more to hold Bob Baffert accountable than anyone in horse racing
— Whiskey Splatt (@v_helium) December 6, 2021
Medina Spirit was always the little engine that could. He wasn't a very big horse but he tried, tried, tried. I'm going to miss him.
I'll remember him as a horse who tried. A horse who did his best.
All we as beings can do is our best and that in itself is admirable.
— Matt Dinerman (@3coltshandicap) December 6, 2021
Dear Racing Community: We were deeply saddened to hear of Medina Spirit's passing this morning.
Over the next few days, we plan for critical, crucial industry conversations to take place to make our sport better for all involved.
— RTIP (@RacingSymposium) December 6, 2021
Here come all the idiots on Twitter saying Baffert killed the horse — instead of understanding that this happens in this business – it absolutely sucks this part ! Truth is there's a 4 claimer somewhere just as special to that owner /trainer u will never hear about just happened
— Ron Paolucci Racing (@LooochRacing) December 6, 2021
You had the kindest eyes, willful determination, and sweet soul…Rest easy Medina Spirit. 😞 pic.twitter.com/3HDeMVNi7V
— Rickelle Nelson (@DeckTheStalls) December 6, 2021
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