It Is Long Past Time To Clean Up Thoroughbred Racing
One of my fondest childhood memories is being taken to Delaware Park, at that time one of the premier thoroughbred tracks in America, by my mother to watch morning workouts. She instilled in me an appreciation for the beauty, athleticism and intelligence of thoroughbreds and the sights, sounds and smells of those misty mornings have never left me.
Then much later in life I fell for a woman who is an excellent equestrienne and have loved watching her take her retired thoroughbred and other horses through their paces, including jumps over hurdles, hedges and water barriers using a reining technique pioneered by the legendary Jean Claude Racinet that keep horse and ride in balance without having to resort to the whip or spurs.
Because of all this I used to look forward to the Breeders Cup, an annual thoroughbred horse racing competition with more than $25 million in purse money. Same with the Triple Crown. But it has become obvious that the people who run this sport in America have only their best interests in mind. The horses are mere commodities to be raced and too often raced to death.
I began to sour on a sport that I have long loved because of what happened after the 2008 Kentucky Derby, an incredible race by any account.
Big Brown closed with an extraordinary burst of speed under picture-book blue skies to become the first horse to win the first leg of the Triple Crown from a 20th post position since 1929 and the first to win after only having run three races since 1919. And if that wasn’t enough, Eight Belles — the rare filly in a race dominated by colts — gave Big Brown a run for the roses awarded the winner since the first Derby way back in 1874.
Eight Belles crossed the wire nearly five lengths behind Big Brown, but moments later the champion filly fell without warning in front of her outrider as she was easing down. She had fractured both of her front ankles — extraordinarily in the same stride — and was euthanized as 157,000 Churchill Downs fans and tens of millions more at home, at bars and betting parlors looked on in stunned silence.
As it was, I had watched that year’s Triple Crown races with trepidation. Two years earlier, Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner, had broken down in the Preakness after shattering his right hind leg. He died several months later from the inevitable complications of such a severe injury.
The Barbaro tragedy prompted calls to adopt safer synthetic racing surfaces as opposed to traditional dirt ovals like Churchill, and there was the inevitable second-guessing over whether Eight Belles was done in by the track, which happened to be dry and fast, let alone whether she should have been competing against colts.
Eight Belles had never raced beyond a mile and one-sixteenth in her prior nine starts. The Derby is a mile and one-quarter. Only four fillies have ever won the Derby; the last was Winning Colors in 1988. And when Rags to Riches won the 2007 Belmont Stakes, the last leg of the Triple Crown, she was the first filly to capture the grueling mile and three-quarters race in 102 years.
There is an even larger issue that will never be addressed: Three-year-old horses — and the Triple Crown is open only to three year olds — are mere babies.
These horses may appear to be magnificent specimens but in reality are pedigreed freaks bred for speed who have extremely fragile and still developing bones that make them especially prone to what has happened to too many young horses. These include Barbaro and Pine Island, who had to be euthanized after the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Distaff race at Churchill when he suffered a dislocation of the left front fetlock.
There is a culture in horse racing in America that rewards those who seek any means, legal and otherwise, to get an edge. When illegal drug use goes undetected, trainers walk away with the winnings and an enhanced reputation. But when they are caught, they are all too often handed punishments that are in name only. Their horses still run and their stables still operate, usually under the name of a trusted assistant.
That is why it was so refreshing to read this week that New York racing authorities have revoked the license of Richard Dutrow Jr., who not coincidentally was the trainer of Big Brown when he won the Derby, for 10 years. Dutrow was cited for a variety of infractions ranging from hiding workouts of his horses to using powerful painkillers on horses he ultimately sent out to race. Other states are likely to follow suit, and for all intents and purposes the career of one of thoroughbred racing’s more controversial and successful horsemen is over.
Meanwhile, it is long past time to go to the safer racing surfaces widely used in Europe and already adopted by many equestrian venues, and otherwise clean up thoroughbred racing. It is long past time to stop racing three-year-olds into early graves. And it is long past time to stop giving trainers wrist slaps for illegally drugging their horses.
But all of that, despite the sanctions against Dutrow, is wishful thinking in a sport is awash with big money, outsized stud fees and enormous egos.
7 Responses to “It Is Long Past Time To Clean Up Thoroughbred Racing”
You will not get an argument out of me on this one, Shaun. I have experienced the same feelings while watching horses go down, both on tv and at the track. The arguments you hear are “they are doing what they were born to do”, “they are doing what they love to do”, and a few more “yeah, but’s” that escape me now.
Thoroughbred breeding, training and racing is a big business. Big Money is involved and syndicating and incorporating are common within the industry.
Look at the parallels between breeding/ training/racing and banking, for instance.
There are regulations in place, but they are weak and full of loopholes. When someone is caught breaking the law, watered down, puny punishment is doled out.
This is a result of bought votes. “OK, we don’t want this bill to pass. How much is it going to cost us”?
Want the system changed, then go to getmoneyout.com and sign up. Dylan Ratigan and Mark McKinnon were on Morning Joe this a.m. promoting “No Labels” and “Get the Money Out”. Everyone should at least take a look. This is the root of all evil in our country today.
We’ve owned horses for about 15 years. I’ve raised two babies. One is 11yrs old now and the other will turn 3 in March of 2012. Both are pinto QH crosses.
I remember from my horse management classes in college that a horse’s long bones do not knit until they are 33 mo old, and that is for light-legged breeds like the QH and Thoroughbred. Heavier breeds knit after they are 36 mo. All horses are growing until they are about 5.
Because I know this, we do not do anything significant with the young ones before they are 3. I have been on the young one, but only for 15 minutes at a time and never off the soft surface of the indoor run in, and only at a walk. My goal is to teach him the basics of saddle, bridle, rider and cues, so that he will be ready for more advanced training once he is old enough. I won’t do any serious riding on him until he is 5.
These poor Thoroughbreds are raced into the ground, many before they are 2. It’s no wonder so many of them break down, and the ones that don’t often aren’t ridable much past 15 because their joints go on them. I do not support the racing industry at all, but I do support the thoroughbred rescues who try so hard to save these animals from the slaughterhouse.
I’ve only gradually and reluctantly realized that horse racing literally allows horses to be run into the ground at an extremely young age. I’ve always loved the grace and beauty of the horses. Several years ago my wife got us tickets (as a gift for me) to visit Churchill Downs for a day of racing (not during Derby time). While we were there it dawned on me what this is all really about. The stands were nearly empty, just us and a few other spectators. However if you walked inside, the place was packed with people going to the betting windows and watching on the monitors, never venturing outside. It was only about the money and the gambling. I find myself feeling very helpless (and hence guilty) in terms of how to help in this situation. My question then is this: Does anyone have suggestions or resources to contact to begin making what little impact we might to get some of this changed? I believe I heard that a conservative estimate is an average of one horse per day is put down at tracks in the U.S.
jdwincu:
Keen observations all. I am unaware of any organization that is trying to bring safety and hence sanity to thoroughbred racing.
The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel. Proverbs 10:12
I have been steaming about Dutrow since that derby year..in my mind Eight Belles won that race as she was drug free.The way he carried on about how Big Brown was getting monthly shots made him disqualified to me.When they took B.B. off the steroids he finished last in the Belmont.It is way past the time to stop these practices but I am glad that they are doing it now..a little late for Eight belles and the other drug free horses he ran against but at least they are taking baby steps in trying to get rid of repeat violaters.Pine Island was a filly trained by the great Shug and owned by the Phipps family..you can bet your paycheck that she never had an illegal drug in her system ever as her connections are just one of the classiest in racing.Yes it is time for Rick and his kind to go go.
On September 27, 2011, I was a presenter at the International Horse Welfare Conference held in Alexandria, VA. It was a three day conference on all aspects of horse welfare including horse slaughter and the decimation and destruction of the wild horses and burros.
My presentation was entitled:
Thoroughbred Racing: What Really Happens on the Backstretch
If you go to this link, http://www.equinewelfarealliance.org/Int_l_Equine_Conference.html you can scroll to my name and if you click on Handout 1, you can read my speech on this topic. If you click on Handout 2, you will see the handout provided to attendees. If you click on my name, it will take a while to load but you can see the accompanying Power Point slides that went with the presentation.
Currently, there IS something you can do:
http://www.animallawcoalition.com/animal-cruelty/article/1780