It was supposed to be a big weekend for a few horses to stamp out their greatness, and head to the Breeders Cup as favorites. It also could give lesser knowns a berth in the Breeders Cup as it is one of the last weekends to qualify. It did have some impressive victories, as in two year old War Pass’s trouncing of favorites Majestic Warrior and Readys Image in the Champagne.

But the weekend will forever be a perfect illustration of everything that is wrong with the sport. Three horses were injured, and two were euthanized. Dream of Angels had a fatal accident in the stall and fractured his skull before he ever ran. Two year old Gold Train suffered a sesamoid injury so severe that he was euthanized immediately following the Lane’s End Breeders Futurity, a race that Wicked Style won impressively. He had only previously run in one race, so the cause of his fatal breakdown is unknown.

TeuflesbergTeuflesberg, on the other hand was making his 20th start, and it will surely be his last. He also suffered multiple fractures in his left front sesamoids, and will have surgery to repair the leg later this week. Whether or not he survives is still anyone’s guess. A thoroughbred, as the nation saw with Barbaro, has many things against them when repairing a broken bone. Barbaro was a model patient and that much was in his favor, but Teuflesberg is a different beast all together, and is not nearly as calm.

Rumor has it that Teuflesberg was not in his best physical condition before the race. Many said he wasn’t even sound. Apparently, that could very well have been true. If he were another horse (perhaps Street Sense or Rags to Riches) he would have had his training suspended and would have been sent to the nearest equine hospital for further evaluation. Teuflesberg is a solid horse, capable of showing his best and beating a graded field on any given day. His career has been hit or miss, however, which led him to being treated like a cheap claiming animal. He deserved better, and now may suffer the highest penalty and indignity. Jamie Sanders never treated him like the multi million dollar animal that he is.

Horses today do not run twenty races in a career that spans all of a year and a half. Many horses run half that in that span, and some don’t even run that much. It has been argued that the modern thoroughbred is not as fragile as they appear. Sadly, they are far more fragile.

Keeneland is one of the safer tracks in the country and in one day two horses suffer the same injury. If tracks are being made safer, why are horses still breaking down? Could it be the reliance that most trainers have on a plethora of drugs?

For Teuflesberg that could not have been the case, as he wasn’t medicated, pin fired or injected. Then maybe pedigree is the answer? He does have Devil’s Bag in his pedigree and he ran only twice as a three year old. He also is a product of Hail to Reason and Turn To (horses that are known for producing offspring with less than stellar limbs). Until a reason is agreed upon , horses will continue to breakdown, synthetic surface or not.