Originally Posted by
str
Q. .. when there's a comment bled how does the chart caller know that .. can he see it (binoculars) or is it reported to him ?
A. He sees it through the binoculars. Unless there are very new rules in place and it would have been announced , it is not reported to him.
Chart callers, and I watched a few over my years by spending the race in the press box area and actually watching them do their job, call out the various pole calls and another person writes them down. It goes REAL fast. Very cool to see the 1st time. I had no idea.
They will watch the horses pull up if they are astute to see if they might return lame, or bleed, or whatever else they might see. In this case, the horse must have bled badly during the race and it was obvious. Often times, the rider can be splattered in blood as well after the race if the horse bled outward while the race was still running. Some might start to bleed once pulled up, but before coming back to be unsaddled.
To finish up with chart callers, they then watch a replay as often as needed to piece together the actual verbiage in the chart you get to read.
Q. also reason I brought up the similar running line was is it possible a horse bleeds and it is not discovered?
A. Absolutely. I would guess that maybe 1% of horses that bleed, do so before getting unsaddled. Maybe less than that. So if a chart caller sees it, it is real bad and started early on in the race.
Q. I'm guessing it's visible through the nostrils.
A. Rarely. The vast majority of horses that bleed will not bleed out through the nostrils. And of those that do, very few do so until well after the race. Maybe after they have walked and cooled out, pissed, and walked a bit more . Grooms might spot a slight trickle while cleaning them up an hour and a half after the race, but even that is kind of rare. Maybe you sponge out their nose and see a slight discoloration on the sponge.
The vast majority of horses that bleed need to be scoped to get any accurate reading of if and how badly they bled. A flexible 12"-14" thin tube on the end of what looks like a gun but has a place to look into like a telescope on the opposite end of it is used. It is inserted through a nostril and you follow the inner area way . Slight, moderate or quite a bit of splatter will appear along the area way towards the lungs. That is the ONLY accurate way to know exactly how badly or slightly your horse bled.
Can idiot trainers not realize the horse bled. Sure. Idiots are idiots. But any trainer worth a quarter will spend the money to make sure they know exactly what they are dealing with.
As for this horse, if he ran that type of race before, was he 1st time lasix after that? Only ask because 1st time you bleed, it is typically 10-21 days before you can race, depending where you are. 2nd time offenders, if the state vet catches them bleeding, it is typically 60 days. 3rd time is typically one year.4th time, typically life. But... like I said, you have to bleed terribly to be bleeding while the state vet can see it pulling up. Sounds like this horse had to serve the 60 day, 2nd offender procedure before it ran.
Hope that helps. Great question.