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Horse Racing Is Breeding Itself to Death
Washington Post ^ | May 4, 2008 | Sally Jenkins

Posted on 05/03/2008 7:44:26 PM PDT by kingattax

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, trying to please her jockey, trainer, owners and all the people in 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.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: eightbelles; eightbells; horseracing; kentuckyderby
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To: Secret Agent Man

A racehorse is worth thousands of cows. It isn’t pointless.


61 posted on 05/04/2008 12:45:28 AM PDT by buck jarret
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To: kingattax
Seems to happen to humans as well, ask Sid Vicious or for those of you not into Monday night TV wrestling do a google search.
62 posted on 05/04/2008 1:20:30 AM PDT by Eye of Unk (The world WILL be cleaner, safer and more productive without Islam.)
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To: Pharmboy

I heard on the radio that her trainer said she ran the race of her life


63 posted on 05/04/2008 2:46:45 AM PDT by screaming eagle2 (No matter what you call it,a pre-owned vehicle is still a USED CAR!)
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To: Secret Agent Man

Barbaro

http://www.vet.upenn.edu/newsandevents/news/BarbaroPhotos.htm

64 posted on 05/04/2008 5:01:58 AM PDT by gate2wire (Even when you know, you never know.)
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To: gate2wire
RIP Eight Belles

For the first time ever, I am betting in a horse race. The Preakness will be run while I am in Las Vegas, and I can't not take part in the fun.

Since I am a very penny ante gambler, I am looking for inside info. (I want my $10.00 to go a long way HA HA!). Since you seem very versed in horse racing, can you give me a "sure" bet for the Preakness? I truly am not looking to win, just have fun, so who, or what type of bet do you suggest?

65 posted on 05/04/2008 5:09:25 AM PDT by codercpc
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To: codercpc

Don’t even know who’s running yet. PM me when the entries are determined. The wednesday before the race.


66 posted on 05/04/2008 5:13:07 AM PDT by gate2wire (Even when you know, you never know.)
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To: gate2wire
Oh, that shows how much I know about horse racing!

Thank you so much, but I am actually leaving the Wednesday before the race, so I won't have my computer access. If I see anything before I leave, I will certainly take you up on that PM offer though. Thanks again.

67 posted on 05/04/2008 5:19:56 AM PDT by codercpc
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To: codercpc

No problem.

Have a great time.


68 posted on 05/04/2008 5:22:31 AM PDT by gate2wire (Even when you know, you never know.)
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To: Secret Agent Man

I looked a little deeper into this and it appears the breaks have a tendency to shatter - the example they gave was the bone is broken more like a bag of ice rather than like a stick.


69 posted on 05/04/2008 8:31:28 AM PDT by lajollasurfer
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To: Sherman Logan

Every horse in the race has some descent from Native Dancer. They are all very strong and have a tendency to strong rather than fluid moves.


70 posted on 05/04/2008 8:34:41 AM PDT by RightWhale (Repeal the Law of the Excluded Middle)
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To: poindexter

“How long would horse racing last if the betting were taken out of it?”

Longer than the stock market.


71 posted on 05/04/2008 10:05:45 AM PDT by devere
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To: kingattax; gate2wire; Pharmboy; mikrofon; Charles Henrickson
She ran with the heart of a locomotive, on champagne-glass ankles, trying to please her jockey, trainer, owners and all the people in 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.


72 posted on 05/04/2008 10:19:41 AM PDT by martin_fierro (Emo Horseracing)
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To: Pharmboy

AMEN!!!!

73 posted on 05/04/2008 10:20:48 AM PDT by abigailsmybaby (I was born with nothing. So far I have most of it left.)
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To: Eye On The Left

According to the Daily Racing Form, the timer at Pimlico malfunctioned the day of the 1973 Preakness Stakes, and Secretariat’s actual time was 1:53 2/5, a stakes and track record at the time. The stakes record has since been equaled, and the track record for the distance broken.

Secretariat’s 2:24 at the Belmont Stakes is still the world record for 1 1/2 miles on a dirt track, and no other horse on has ever run faster than 2:25 at that distance.


74 posted on 05/04/2008 10:21:44 AM PDT by devere
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To: Mr Rogers

I read several years ago, too, that as 3 year olds these horses aren’t done growing yet. The larger the breed of horse, the more slowing they grow and mature. Some people think that they are too young to be raced.


75 posted on 05/04/2008 10:25:23 AM PDT by abigailsmybaby (I was born with nothing. So far I have most of it left.)
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To: Eye On The Left
If I'm not mistaken, this horse was known as "Big Red" long before Secretariat was ever born:

His name was Man O' War.

76 posted on 05/04/2008 11:01:58 AM PDT by Darnright (If "pro" is the opposite of "con", is progress the opposite of congress?)
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To: Lizavetta
According to my brother in law, who is an equine vet, they have never been able to develop a splint or prosthesis for horses. Horses like to get up and run around and if they cannot they get infections that are often fatal. If a human brakes his leg he will stay off his feet for a few weeks until it heals. It is not natural for a horse to sit around and wait for the healing process to run its course.
77 posted on 05/04/2008 1:30:31 PM PDT by Uncle Hal
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To: LibFreeOrDie

Laminitis, yes. It’s just too bad they cant have an ambulance that can actually hold up a horse with two broken legs. Have a wheelable hoist system that wheels down, the horse can be put in it, and then wheeled up (with the horse only walking on its two rear legs), and then going back up the ramp onto the ambulance.

Kind of why I wouldn’t mind not seeing them horse race. It’s all unnecessary, accidental deaths, there is no point to it.


78 posted on 05/04/2008 2:47:13 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: buck jarret

The accidental death is pointless and unnecessary. That is not the intended goal.


79 posted on 05/04/2008 2:48:07 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: gate2wire

Thanks for the photo and posting this. This is kind of what I was thinking of. I appreciate the post.


80 posted on 05/04/2008 2:50:37 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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