by: Elizabeth Rancani

Horse racing suffered another blow on Saturday, and even those of us who love the sport, are questioning why. Many in the industry want to get past it, brush it under the rug and toss it up to accidents happen in thoroughbred racing. That is, perhaps easier for them to believe than to point blame at any of them.

While PETA’s claims are totally ridiculous and come from ignorance on so many levels, there are some very real concerns. Gabriel Saez did not whip Eight Belles to death. That much is obvious. She also wasn’t likely injured when she passed the finish line. If she was that says even less for the eighteen colts in the Derby that she finished ahead of without the use of four good limbs. Saez was galloping her out and cooling her down. She wasn’t at full run, which makes this even more disturbing.

Larry Jones did not drug his filly either. He says he hasn’t used steroids on his horses since 1997, and that was on a severely injured horse. He obviously cared about his stable’s star, and feels the pain of her demise. That doesn’t mean that there is not a drug problem in the game, and something does need to be done about that, but Larry Jones and Eight Belles are not the poster children for that movement.

Accidents happen in every sport. Ok. In contact sports this is particularly true. Hockey players lose teeth, football players break bones, and basketball players break fingers. But, should a horse while galloping have both of their front legs explode out from under them? Last year the on track vet said that George Washington’s injury was typical of a horse suffering exhaustion at the end of a race like the Breeders Cup. Dr. Bramlage said of Eight Belles, muscle fatigue puts an added strain on the skeletal system. If that is the case training practices could be to blame. Years ago when there were less catastrophic breakdowns, horses were raced more often, carried more weight and raced longer distances. Did they hold up better because of that? Today, horses are lightly trained, and race very sparingly. Aside from Curlin, many of the recent champion horses ran just four times all year. And this year as a four year old, Curlin probably won’t run much more than that. It is only the three year olds gearing up for the Kentucky Derby that are asked for more races. In recent years many of them did not run past the Triple Crown races. Some never run again after the Kentucky Derby. The first time Eight Belles saw a mile and a quarter was Saturday, and it was the same with all the horses in the race. Jones is not alone in his training practices. There are not any races over a mile and a quarter before the Derby.

Is it wrong to want to place blame? Many in the industry say yes, and if they want to stick their collective heads in the sand once again, that is their right. It will not help the sport, however. It will not attract new fans. It will not do anything to make racing safer for its stars. Drugs need to be banned. Period. Every other nation but the US and Canada realize that. If there is even the possibility that a horse cannot feel an injury before their leg explodes out from under them, thus making it impossible to save them, then ban them all. It is long overdue, and if PETA wanted to jump on anything after the race, that is what they could have shed light on. Racing also needs to stop slaughtering the horses on which their sport relies. PETA could have jumped on that bandwagon too. Moving to synthetic surfaces may in the long run turn out to be all that needs to be done. Maybe. Maybe not. Many have said that the calendar needs to be changed so that three year olds are not asked for too much too soon. Maybe that will work, but the truth is, it has never been needed. Many of the Triple Crown stars even threw in the Withers Stakes before competing in the final leg of the Triple Crown. Why does the modern day racehorse need so much time to stand in their stall and prepare for a race? There lies the most important question. What is different today than fifty, sixty, seventy years ago? Find the answer to that one, and we just may get another Kelso, Round Table or even Citation.