Washington Post: "Is Horse Racing Breeding Itself to Death?"

[Ilsa]

(I really liked the comment about NBC being "cowardlike". WP rips some new ones.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/03/AR2008050301707.html?hpid=topnews

By Sally Jenkins
Sunday, May 4, 2008; Page D01

The camera cut away from her, but it should have stayed on her. Eight Belles had run herself half to death yesterday, and now the vets were finishing the job as she lay on her side, her beautiful figure a black hump on the track. Horses don't just fall down like that, you thought as NBC flitted away, cowardlike, from the sickening picture to the more appealing image of the Kentucky Derby victor, Big Brown.

There is no turning away from this fact: Eight Belles killed herself finishing second. She ran with the heart of a locomotive, on champagne-glass ankles for the pleasure of the crowd, the sheiks, oilmen, entrepreneurs, old money from the thousand-acre farms, the handicappers, men in bad sport coats with crumpled sheets full of betting hieroglyphics, the julep-swillers and the ladies in hats the size of boats, and the rest of the people who make up thoroughbred racing. There was no mistaking this fact, too, as she made her stretch run, and the apologists will use it to defend the sport in the coming days: She ran to please herself.

But thoroughbred racing is in a moral crisis, and everyone now knows it. Twice since 2006, magnificent animals have suffered catastrophic injuries on live television in Triple Crown races, and there is no explaining that away. Horses are being over-bred and over-raced, until their bodies cannot support their own ambitions, or those of the humans who race them. Barbaro and Eight Belles merely are the most famous horses who have fatally injured themselves. On Friday, a colt named Chelokee, trained by Barbaro's trainer Michael Matz, dislocated an ankle during an undercard for the Kentucky Oaks and was given a 50 percent chance of survival.

snip

[FARAFIELD]

1. dont forget 1 horse has broke down in each of the last 2 breeders cups

PINE VALLey in 06 and george washington in 07

[Ilsa]

3. Thank you. I didn't even know about those. nt

[dkf]

4. I didn't realize it was so bad.

I don't understand why they can't test for this kind of fragility. Is it bone thickness or density or simply that they are too fast for their own bone structure to handle?

[mac2]

25. This was supposed to be a big, strong horse for a filly.

Her legs didn't seem fragile to me.

The track was rather deep with sand/dirt though. I'd have trouble running in it. It had rained a lot previously. Other wise I can't see what they were talking about. As the people walked down the track before the race I wondered if the women had flats on. Just a thought I had.

[erpowers]

30. Maybe A hole

There may have been a hole in the ground. I was watching the show live and Big Brown had almost thrown his rider. A commentator in that area later said that was the same place where Big Brown had almost thrown his rider and something might have been wrong with the ground. I am not trying to take any blame away from horse racing, but it may have been the ground, just as you said.

[mac2]

43. Interesting that both horses had a problem in the same spot.

[mac2]

44. Maybe like the scene of a crime it should have been

roped off and investigated later.

[Duppers]

53. Mac, you posted in another thread about horses' leg strength

You stated:
"And they are young so their legs would be stronger.
They do race in the desert sand too. Both legs? Nope doesn't make sense to me."

I replied: "young does NOT equal stronger bones. quite the opposite, until 'old age.'
same applies to all animals."

One leg breaks, leaving the others more vulnerable to breaking too. These injuries are about the horses' breeding, their training, and their age. And thoroughbreds could be run on the same kind of tracks that help prevent humans from sustaining injures (according to my racing physician). But oh nooos, that would mean breaking with their frikin' traditions.

[mac2]

64. It's a discussion about the accident.

It certainly points to a need to investigate the problem. The insurance for loss of an animal might prevent real reforms.

I never did find out about the track and why it was so dusty and thick.

[mac2]

27. Why would it happen after off of camera?

[Supersedeas]

67. i wasn't aware of those

[Yael]

2. This is just breaking my heart today.

:cry:

[Psst_Im_Not_Here]

9. Me too, Yael

It's put me in a melancholy mood all day, just really sad. Just heart broken, she was SO beautiful. I was pulling for Pyro but, also for 8 Belles, being the only filly in the bunch. And Big Brown? Could you be any more boring? Hubby says it's like naming a horse "Horse"

[Up2Late]

5. Thanks for posting this.

I have nothing to add.:(

[Bluerthanblue]

6. money, money. money......

money...

That is what struck me -like a ton of bricks- as we listened to them rattle off all the "corporate" ties at the awards ceremony. It's all about the money.

I'm glad she's not suffering now.


What a world. What a f---d up crazy world this is.

:(

[Ilsa]

10. I noticed all the fucking "VISA" shirts on the wranglers prior to the race. nt

[Avalux]

7. It needs to stop. What's happening to these animals is heartbreaking.

They LOVE to run and humans have exploited that; as the article says, breeding them to extremes and pushing them to the limits. The horses can't slow down or stop to avoid injury.

:cry:

[demodonkey]

8. Eight Belles made an incredible effort. I've been crying all evening.

And I actually said to a friend, earlier today, that something like this may happen. These big bodied Thoroughbreds can't keep running on these tiny legs. Look at photos of horses like Man O War, or Three Bars, and their legs look like fence posts compared to the horses of today.

Anyway, I have been crying all evening for Elght Belles. Watch her stretch run; she was really turning it on and giving her all to pull up to Big Brown and pass him. Too bad her bones didn't match the size of her courage.

:cry:

[Lorien]

13. Irresponsible breeding is doing awful things to many domestic animals

in needs to be strictly regulated, imho, but it probably never will be because too many people would cry "nanny state" and too much money is involved. German Shepards have hip problems, Arabian horses-often used for endurance races-are also being bred to have twigs for legs (nothing like the Arab I had growing up). Collies are being bred to have eyes so small that some are born without eyes at all! It's sick. Horses do love to run, but if they CAN'T run like mad from time to time there's a good chance they'll go lame from lack of activity (this happened to my sister's horse, who was a thoroughbred). A horse doesn't have good prospects in life, period, if it's bred with "champaign glass ankles". :grr:

[Duppers]

54. Thank You, Lorien !!

You've got it right. And thanks for enlightening some here about the Arabians.
Leg size does indeed factor into these injuries.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

11. This is like a nightmare replay of Ruffian.

The greatest racehorse EVER. Ten wins; never beaten, never headed.
Better than the boys.
Secretariat's trainer said "As God is my witness, she might be better than Secretariat."

I cried for a week when Ruffian broke down in 1975.

RIP, Ruffian. RIP Eight Belles. :cry:

[Triana]

12. THIS his heartbreaking. They NEED TO SET LIMITS ...

...I'm not a horseracing fan but I LOVE animals and there HAS to be something done.

:cry:

[DeepModem Mom]

14. Thank you. K&R

[1]

15. my god...

hyperbole much sally jenkins?

yes, its was tragic. but these things happen.

get over yourself...

[ArmchairActivist]

22. Perhaps a tad over-wrought...

...but nonetheless a pretty impressive piece of writing, given that it was generated on deadline.

Jenkins probably had less than four hours to file this piece.

[Duppers]

55. never loved an animal ?

My best friend had 4 legs. Not a human can hold a candle to her compassion.

And my compassion for them doesn't diminish my compassion for humans.

[spoony]

16. Great article

[mac2]

17. We saw something different.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=154&topic_id=1918&mesg_id=1918

We had peach mint juleps and watched on TV.

[1]

18. is that supposed to be funny? asshole. n/t

[mac2]

28. No it wasn't.

[flvegan]

19. "Eight Belles killed herself"

Anyone that takes part in this "sport" has the blood of this horse on their hands.

[crimsonblue]

20. Jenkins has outdone herself....

her lack of knowledge of animal biology is apparent. When any machine goes through constant, repetitive motions its risk of failure increases. You see this nearly everyday on ESPN-- some athlete has a knee injury or an arm injury (a recent study pegged NBA injury rate at 19.3 per 1000) . All machines break down from repetitive motion. Horse racing is not breeding itself to death-- quite the opposite. Young horses that die from ankle and lower leg injuries generally have weaker joints and bones. Death prevents the propagation of their seed, and thus reducing the prevalence of weaker legs. This elimination from the gene pool increases the gene pool of descendants in the population, because there is less competition. ok, let the evolution flame wars begin...

study link: http://ajs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/34/7/1077

[ArmchairActivist]

21. Highly doubtful she wrote the headline...

...and the piece itself isn't really arguing what you are refuting...

[crimsonblue]

47. she wrote a polemic on horse racing...

and the only way to refute that is with facts.

[aquart]

23. The breeding program SUCKS.

It's time for a whole new set of standards.

[malaise]

24. GEM$NBC shies away from all truth

"It's unfortunate that NBC chose to shy away from the breakdown of Eight Belles, because we need a hard look at the real cost to the horses, no matter how upsetting and painful it is to see".
-------------------------
We could just as easily have written this:
'It's unfortunate that NBC chose to shy away from the War in and occupation of Iraq, because we need a hard look at the real cost to the humans, no matter how upsetting and painful it is to see'.

One model - ratings and self interest.

[mac2]

26. Was it insurance fraud or something else?

Whatever it was it was really strange.

[jakefrep]

31. Why in the hell should they show the breakdown on TV?

What kind of ghoul are you?

[mac2]

33. The horse came in second at the Derby.

She was not expected to do that well.

The jockey would have had a fall too. They being the "sports events people" like to re-play all the "accidents".

[jakefrep]

38. You didnt answer the question

Whose interests would it have served to show a horse being euthanized?

[mac2]

39. I'm talking about the event of the accident.

The camera missed the fall period. They wanting the thrill of the event would show it over and over so people could see what happened.

Shooting the horse or whatever...no that was not necessary for anyone to see except maybe the owner.

Did they only have one camera for that race? And all of them missed the second place winner?

[jakefrep]

48. {self-delete}

[mac2]

34. deleted

[malaise]

36. You're either showing the race or you're not

Enough of this fucking virtual reality decided on by producers with an eye for ratings and self promotion.

It was either live coverage of the race or it was not and it was NOT - it was edited reality, like every other inversion of reality being thrown at us.

[jakefrep]

37. Oh Bullshit!

The TV people were rightly focused on the winner of the race. It's not as if the breakdown was ignored.

They did show the race - LIVE - get your head out of your ass.

[mac2]

40. Go to the corner and put your head down.

[jakefrep]

50. {self-delete}

[lonestarnot]

42. To show the fucking sport for what it is! Cruel and remorseless.

[jakefrep]

49. What a bunch of ignorant reactionary bullshit

Ever spend time with these horses?

[MadBadger]

58. Yea, cuz every horse loves to be whipped a little.

[lonestarnot]

69. Raised on the racetrack biatch.

[bklyncowgirl]

29. I agree with much of this article--if they don't clean up their act racing will die

I grew up watching racing--and riding horses--many of them ex racers. I love thoroughbreds.

Back in the day, it was unusual for a top thoroughbred to end it's career at age three--Secretariat was an exception--due to a clause in his sale contract not because there was anything wrong with him. Now it's normal and expected. A horse like Curlin actually racing at age four is considered a great thing.

The big bucks in racing are made when a horse is two or three years old but the biggest bucks are made when a horse enters the breeding shed. Breeders produce a horse for the market. Big early developers that are enhanced by steriods if necessary bring those high prices at the sales. Tragically those big colts go into training on bones not yet mature enough to take the strain and they break down. The bloodlines which produce these type of horses often come from animals that themselves broke down on the track but were saved for stud. It sounds cruel but back in the day when a bullet was the only cure for a broken leg you had a tougher type of horse because the weak ones (relatively few at the high end levels) were removed from the gene pool.

What's interesting is that many of the horses in recent years who dominated the Triple Crown races were horses bred outside of the Kentucky breeding establishment, Funny Cide, Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex were all either home breds or picked up relatively cheap as likely race horses but not envisioned as future champions. Funny Cide (a gelding) was sound enough to race until age 7 and is now happily working for his trainer as a stable pony. Smarty Jones developed a minor injury and was quickly retired. Afleet Alex got knocked to his knees at the head of teh stretch in the Preakness but went on to win and also won the Belmont. He was later discovered to have sustained a hairline fracture. The vet who operated on him said that his bone density was much harder than most modern Thoroughbreds--any other horse would have broken down in that accident and probably have brought half the field down with him. If I had a mare and a ton of money I'd breed to Afleet Alex in a heartbeat. I'd think twice before breeding to Smarty Jones.

You add to weak bloodlines the fact that since the 80's trainers have been free to use drugs like bute and lasix on their horses. Oddly enough, the decline of racing seems to date from that point. Bute is a great drug but if your horse has to have it in order to even gallop, that's an animal that needs a rest--not an aspirin.

The simple thing which should get through even to the simple minds of the racing establishment is that no one is going to want to watch or bet on their horses if they are convinced that they are going to watch some beautiful animal die. They have to clean up their act--and fast.

[aaronbees]

52. Sensible, thoughtful response

I love racing but I'm sick and tired of seeing horses break down in the limelight and also on the track when fewer people see it happen. The horse racing powers are such an incredibly monolithic bunch when it comes to change, so I'm not holding out much hope they'll get it together. It's a shame really. They have moved on sythetic surfaces but that's only a small part of the change needed, not a cure all.

And you're absolutely spot on about Afleet Alex. What a wonderful horse he is and I hope he makes great babies that tear up the track.

[bklyncowgirl]

61. I really think the drugs are the biggest part of the equation--and the easiest to fix.

No drugs like they do in Europe and Japan. Real penalties for breaking the rules--not the slappypooo wink and nod that these guys get now

If you have to keep a horse off bute for, say ten days before a race in order for it to test clean. It's going to be pretty obvious if the horse is hurting before the race. A decent trainer would pull it from the race and if he wouldn't the track vet would.

These kind of breakdowns, where a horse shatters both ankles while galloping out after a race, simply did not happen back in racing's glory days.

[jakefrep]

32. Another clueless hit piece from the drive-by media types that....

only follow horse racing for five minutes a year.

[mac2]

35. I only watch the Super Bowl for about that amount of time.

[lonestarnot]

41. Fucking trainers that put profit motive before care and safety of the back they intend to make their

fortune from are pigs not unlike corporate fuckwads with power and control over their victims. And on edit, the last word to scratch is with the owner, they suck ass too.

[bbgrunt]

45. Soon the winner will be the horse that survives (or goes

the furthest before "killing itself". It is not clear to me that horses dying is enough to quell the bloodlust of the increasingly brutal mindset that is being cultivated in this country--it will just be incorporated into the "sport".

[rockymountaindem]

46. Wow, this article is an incendiary Molotov cocktail of class warfare

:sarcasm:

[rodrigo2xxx]

51. Some politicians are being over-raced

The camera cut away from her, but it should have stayed on her... The Clintons had run themselves half to death during this campaign, and now they are finish. Politicians deserve to fall down alike that, you thought, as all mass media will show ten times a day the sickening picture.

There is no turning away from this fact: The Clintons will kill themselves by finishing second, and they know that. This is one of the reasons why they ran with the heart of a locomotive. In fact for their own enlightenment, their own ambition and for the pleasure of the mass media who make up thoroughbred political racing, despite common sense. There was no mistaking this fact, too, as she made her stretch run, and the apologists will use it to defend the role the old fashion-way washington politics in the coming days: She ran to help the democratic party to win...

But thoroughbred political racing is in a moral crisis, and everyone now knows it. This will make us loose. Twice since 2000, magnificent politician have suffered catastrophic injuries, and there is no explanation for that.

Some politicians are being over-represented and over-raced, until their party cannot support their ambitions.

[GreenPartyVoter]

56. What about Timely Writer? (link inside) I remember that race still :^(

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timely_Writer

[mac2]

66. Yes...Native Dancer was the grandsire of Big Brown too.

Interesting.

[VotesForWomen]

57. who cares. animals don't count. sarcasm, in case anybody missed it. nt

[XOKCowboy]

59. My dad was a lifelong rancher...

and he said many times that when he was growing up you didn't ride a horse till they were 4 yr olds and really work them till they were 5. They knew that the horses broke down or developed foot/leg problems if you rode them too early. Dad never liked horse racing or race horses.

[jmowreader]

60. I see a big problem here, guys

I've got Eight Belles' bloodline on my screen right now. Her sire is Unbridled's Song, and her dam is Away.

Pedigree of Unbridled's Song:
Unbridled's Song = Unbridled (Fappiano x Gana Facil) x Trolley Song (Caro x Lucky Spell)

Fappiano = Mr. Prospector x Killaloe
Gana Facil = Le Fabuleux x Charedi

Caro = Fortino II x Chambord
Lucky Spell = Lucky Mel x Incantation


Pedigree of Away:
Away = Dixieland Band (Northern Dancer x Mississippi Mud) x Be a Prospector (Mr. Prospector x Belonging)

Northern Dancer = Nearctic x Natalma
Mississippi Mud = Delta Judge x Sand Buggy

Mr. Prospector = Raise a Native x Gold Digger
Belonging = Exclusive Native x Straight Deal

I know that in the world of pedigree breeding, a line will show the same names over and over again...note that Mr. Prospector (who shows up in both Unbridled's Song and Away's bloodlines) begat Be a Prospector...and Be a Prospector had a horse with "Native" in its name on both sides, so there's probably the same horse on both sides of Be a Prospector's bloodline.

From what I can gather, Raise a Native was euthanized for spinal degeneration, Northern Dancer had fucked-up legs, and probably every other champeen thoroughbred had something wrong with it...but they run like hell, so they stand the horse at stud for $150,000 and produce long lines of bad horses.

[bklyncowgirl]

62. That's pretty common in Thoroughbred breeding.

My own horse has Bold Ruler and Nearctic on both sides of his pedigree and is a great grandson of Mr. Prospector. His sire raced successfully until age 8 as a good allowance/stakes horse with two track records to his credit so I figure that he was pretty sturdy. My guy's a jumper and trail horse who never raced. He's held up to anything I've ever done to him and we're thinking of trying him out on eventing.

He's much less inbred than Eight Belles, that's for sure.

[mac2]

65. You are saying too much inbreeding makes for bad horses

just like humans? The weakness is more common. Makes sense to me being a biology major in college.

Guess they need a better plan to produce healthier horses in the future.

Reforms are needed. That was obvious from the race and outrage this weekend.

[raccoon]

63. I'd rec this if I could. nt

[Catchawave]

68. The horses that make it this far are the lucky ones, life is good....

What about the ones who can't win? What happens to them?

Most are killed, the lucky ones, here:

http://www.thoroughbredadoption.com/AdoptionPrograms.aspx