Letters to the Editor
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This has got to stop.
Who cares if this is the first fatality in Derby history?
It's the entire corrupt, preening, morally bankrupt industry that's at issue. Not just the Derby. Thank God, Barbaro, and now Eight Belles that the blight that is Thoroughbred racing is finally being revealed for what it is.
But people in the industry love horses, you say? Yeah, and those who abuse wives and kids no doubt love them, too. But we put a stop to their behavior when it comes to light.
If joining PETA is what it takes to bring down the curtain on this American scandal, where do I sign up?
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For or against?
If two year-olds were prevented from training and/or racing, the Derby would still have a winner. Every race has a winner, no? The winner would perhaps be slower, but older and sturdier. Unless, of course, the race is designed in such a way that it cannot be won other than by a horse trained beyond the boundaries of its anatomy. If that's the case, the Derby should be stopped. Gasp! Sorry, but it just ain't that old that it needs be venerated above the health and safety of horses. It's not as if we'd be cancelling the Olympics, or Christmas, or reverting back to English before the Great Vowel Shift.
And why isn't Andrew Beyer's critique properly addressed? It is unbelievably abhorrent to me that McClelland follows and indictment of the sport's flawed and irresponsible breeding practices with, "Horses that delicate may require more forgiving footing." Um... what?!? Change the track but nor the breeding???
I know nothing about racing. I don't think it should be banned, as I think horses enjoy the race to an extent and I think it's a lovely sport. But after reading this article, I'm in agreement with PETA (which I generally find extreme, unrealistic and sometimes ludicrous) and think that the sport should be limited to three year-olds and up.
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I guess we will see lots of this...
People who don't know squat about horses or racing making BIG statements. That "PETA called on Kentucky racing officials to suspend Saez for whipping the filly in the stretch" demonstrates that they have NO idea how a jockey communicates with a horse to guide it through the maze that is the field in a race.
"In one case, groundskeepers brought a screen onto the track, and held it in front of an injured horse while a veterinarian administered a fatal shot. The carcass was winched into a van and carted off." WOW, HOW DRAMATIC! That describes the SOP for removing a massively injured horse from any racetrack anytime. What alternative is there? Dismemberment?
Polytrack may be an improvement but it has not been in use long enough to give sufficient data to justify an immediate change. Using Turfway Park as an example is not completely accurate since their track needed major work anyway.
Horse racing is a beautiful primal sport that is at least as safe as other forms of racing that will attract a big audience.
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Eight Belles' last run
The thing about horse racing, perhaps contrary to what McClelland says about its "agrarian roots" is that it's a wholly artificial sport that exists almost entirely to support the gambling industry.
It's because of the money provided by this industry that racing sees extreme pressure to perform, with compromised results in terms of the welfare of the horses (not to mention the gamblers). The animals are subject to intense pressures, often from a very young age, with their welfare somewhere down the owners' and trainers' order of priorities, to an extent not found in other equestrian sports (with the possible exception of polo). Thus, the substantial risk of the animal being killed or maimed is simply set against against its anticipated winnings, and an actuarial decision made as to whether those will pay back your investment.
All this is done almost completely in order to service the gambling industry. If McClelland really is a "racing fan" and not (a) a gambler or (b) someone working in the industry, he's in a tiny minority. Unless you're one of the above, the whole thing is a pretty sordid and pointless spectacle.
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misleading article
re: ololon. The Kentucky Derby is for three year olds. Restricting racing to only three year olds would not have saved Eight Belles. Why not base a restriction on a sensible scientific perspective, and race only adult horses against other adult horses? With an x-ray of the horse's knees to ensure they're ready before racing? X-raying knees is standard practice before training a horse to jump (at usually four or five). There's no reason the same thing couldn't be done in racing. Well, no reason except tradition.
In thirty years of working with and around horses, I've never heard of a horse that ran itself to death. Nor a horse that just plain snapped a leg and fell over doing anything other than racing. They're fragile, but they aren't that fragile. I can count the horses I've seen put down on one hand; most of the deaths were due to human incompetence... one was injured by a wire fence which was made for cows, not horses; one was fed hay infested with blister beetles; a couple who foundered due to improper handling; and we had to put our stallion down because of arthritis dating from his days as a racehorse. I've seen one horse with rabies. But people who work with horses in venues other than racetracks don't get used to seeing horses put down because it doesn't happen that often. It remains, as it should, a shock.
Horses die alarmingly easily from natural causes, for such a large and powerful looking animal. They get infections, they get colic. But they don't often die of injuries in sports other than racing.
In racing, on the other hand, one in 500 races will result in a death. Those statistics come from the racing association. They were quoting them in an attempt to prove how safe the sport is. I sure wouldn't risk an animal I loved in a sport that's fatal that often. It's far worse at the top - CNN's article mentioned that in the past 13 big name races - they were counting the Triple Crown and the Breeder's Cup - there have been 5 fatalities. That's 40%.
In any other sport, a seven year old horse is just coming into his own. In racing, a seven year old is a senior. If he's still racing he's probably broken down, fetlocks and tendons permanently distorted and swollen from repeated stress.
Look, I've bought horses off the racetrack, 5 year olds with damaged legs and damaged lungs, thrown away as too old at an age when they're actually barely mature. They're mostly nutty as fruitcakes too. With kindness and conditioning a lot of race horses can be rehabilitated to live decent lives, but a lot can't. I know first hand, race people treat horses like shit.