ouch. ouch.

How terrible. I'm glad the little boy was distracted.

KK, I'd be interested in an article about what the heck happened out there. It's the question no one seems to be answering. I can't help noticing that this is the first Derby on a synthetic track.

Decades ago, I was in the business of turning ex race horses into show jumpers, which gave me a lasting impression of race horse people as evil bastards. But the injuries we saw back then were maybe swollen fetlocks and bowed tendons, not two snapped ankles. And most of the nasty stuff took place at the low end of the money spectrum; potential studs were too expensive to treat badly. Now... well, first Barbaro, now this. What's happening in this sport? If human athletes in a particular sport had a spell of this type of injury (too powerful muscles, fragile bones and tendons), I'd be real curious about steroid use.

I thought I'd gotten past tearing up over this. I kind of cheered for the girl horse, too.

I don't understand how people who profess to love horses can breed them in a way that makes them vulnerable to this kind of tragedy. Is winning really so important that it's worth destroying something you love?

I hope someday that children won't have to root for the "girl horse", because the horses won't be run to death for the bettors' pleasure. I hope someday that horses will be animals who are not run to death, but ridden with mutual pleasure, enjoyed as historical icons, and treated kindly as little girls' large pets.

Thank you for that story of the horse race through the eyes of a two year old. I wonder how many of us felt the innocence of the child while we were watching the some 90 second race. There is a lot I didn't understand about why a being of such stature and grace had to fall in such a terrible way. What a blessing that you have the beauty of her stride to continue to show to your daughter.

This is tragic. It is unfortunate to unwittingly subject young children to the spectacle of animal abuse.

Since outlawing horse racing is likely to be controversial, I propose an alternative. In cases where the horse would have been be euthanized, I propose that the horse's owner, trainer and jockey be euthanized along with the horse. In case this may lead to heroic attempts to spare horses, I propose further that the decision to euthanize must proceed as if only the horse were affected.

Why do the boys on the horses hit them with whips?

Does it hurt? Are you sure?

Why do the boys make horses run so fast they die?

Whey did the horse have to run until it died?

Why do the people yelling want the horse to die?

Do the horses want to run that fast? Are you sure?

I wouldn't want to run so fast I break my legs.

Why don't they just let the horses play?

Why do people get to make horses do what they want?

What happens to the horses that lose?

Where do old horses go? Why?

When I heard about Eight Belles, I cried. She was such a beautiful filly. I hope they don't just write this off as a freak accident and really think about the breeding regimens of Thoroughbreds (and other breeds).

Your story made me cry too.

Churchill still runs on dirt. Whether a synthetic track would have made a difference in this specific case is anyone's guess. They seem to be safer in general.

What's happening to the horses is decades of inbreeding. Thoroughbreds are becoming more delicate all the time.

I was glad I missed this on TV. I teared up just reading about it.

Three-year-old horses are like human children. They are not even done growing. The most conscientious horse owners wouldn't even think of training a horse under saddle until about age five. OF COURSE there are catastrophic injuries. You are demanding the world of very young bodies.

Non-horse-people are always shocked to hear that three-year-old horses are babies. (Clue: colt/filly refers to an immature horse. Grown horses are stallions/geldings or mares.) This is what happens when the country is only interested in the creatures one afternoon out of the year.

But I love the animals for trying so hard. I get chills whenever I watch it.

Your daughter needs to understand a cow died so she could eat a hamburger at McDonalds.

Your daughter needs to understand her pet dog (if she has one) eats better than 80 percent of the world's humans.

Your daughter needs to understand a human being (or many) will die today in Iraq so she can have a Daddy who Tivos t.v. programs.

Your daughter needs to understand thousands of humans will die today in the name of Tivos made in China.

Your daughter needs to be exposed to the lyrics of John Lennon's "Imagine" over and over and over again.

(not Footnotes- his wife. Footnotes doesn't know a gelding from a mare. )

What happened to Eight Belles was an awful tragedy, but it wasn't due to cruel treatment. Anyone who thinks a horse can be run to death has never tried making a 1,000 pound animal do something it doesn't want to (one of the reasons I think women take to horseback riding so much more than men- we're already accustomed to getting someone bigger and stronger do what we want him to ;)). Eight Belles ran that hard because she wanted to win. The whipping that PETA, etc. is screaming over was because her jockey was trying to keep her from veering into the fence (It was her habit in all of her races).

Racehorses have been run as two-year-olds for hundreds of years. Seabiscuit ran over 30 races as a two-year-old. Racing them at two is not the problem.

If anything, the problem lies in breeding ruling the Thoroughbred market. The breeding market is so overpriced that people are eager to recoup their investments as soon as possible, and that means horses that run fast and peak early. Eight Belle's sire, Unbridled's Song, is known for siring fast horses that get injured easily. And he's a very popular sire, as is Storm Cat and many others who sire fast, precocious foals who peak early, get injured, and then get shuttled off to the breeding shed to replicate their sires' unsoundness.

The most effective thing would be for the Jockey Club, which sets rules for racing Thoroughbreds, to set up rules that horses may not enter stud until they are five. It would motivate owners to keep running their horses, rather than retiring them after just a few races, and then the market would start demanding a more durable racehorse that can run for four or more years.

And the durable ones are still out there- the public just doesn't hear about them. Evening Attire has run 66 times and is still racing in stakes at age 10. (And every person reading this letter is saying, "Who? Never heard of him.")

I hope it's not King's daughter's last horse race. It's a glorious sport; one that requires teamwork between two athletes, who communicate not through speech or gesture or eye contact, but through touch and balance. If she likes to watch the girls beat the guys, I recommend looking on youtube for the 2007 Belmont Stakes, when filly Rags to Riches beat colt Curlin. You can't miss where the girl horse is in that race- she's eyeballing the boy the whole way down the stretch, and fighting back every step of the way.