First Barbaro. Now Eight Belles. Should some changes be made in the Horse Racing Industry?

Question

This is not a knock on Horse Racing & it's fanbase. But having said that something is very wrong when we have Horses getting injured in these races & then having to be destroyed for everyone to see. Maybe they need to stop running these horses so young but that's just my opinion.

Answer 1

I appoligize in advance for the lengthy answer but there is just no one quick answer to your important question.

I agree that horses are being run too young and your opinion is a good one and backed up by the science.. People don't realize that a horse isn't even really mature until 5 - an age that they are often burnt out by in racing.

Barbara and Eight Belles are only 2 horses and by themselves would not constitute a problem. The problem is that hundreds of less well-known horses break down each year. There are several every day all over the country.

The reasons are multiple and not easily solved. early racing is definitely one of them. The fact that horses are bred for quick developing speed rather than soundness is also a factor. When a big name horse wins a few big races and then is injured, if they survive they are heavily bred and pass the genes for unsoundness down.

The German Jockey Club, for instance does not allow to be used at stud if it has not raced soundly for at leadt 2 years, has never raced on ant drugs, including lasix, and has no genetic defects.

Track surfaces are also a cause. Both grass and the new synthetic surfaces (which resemble grass in shock absorption) but traditionalists, like at Churhill Downs stubbornly stick to their dirt tracks despite the fact that all the numbers show synthetics are safer. With dirt, many people mistake traditional with natural. Dirt tracks bear no resemblance to the native soil they replace and require an army of maintenance equipment to keep from going back to nature.

Drugs, both legal are another problem. The U.S. is the only country to allow horses to race on anabolic steroids and other drugs. Steroids make a horse's body bigger and more muscular but they weaken the bones, joints and other organs. The horses go faster on bigger bodies on weakened legs. Breakdowns are inevitable.

Finally, whip use is almost entirely unregulated in this country. Having seen thousands of races over 40 years, I have seen hundreds of cases of whip abuse but never seen the jockey penalized. In fact, Eight Belles jockey used his whip very aggressively on the filly and this may be a factor in her running herself to death. At the very least, he would have been suspended in Europe for his over use of the whip.

In fairness, I should add that there are also things we cannot do much about. T-Breds weigh over 1000 lbs and run at 40 MPH on legs no thicker than a human ankle or wrist. physics predicts there are going to be breakdowns.

The point is that there are many things we can do that have worked in Europe, but the public must be educated and demand change based on intelligent analysis of the problem.

I realize that it would be economically impractical to make all these changes immediately, but we must also realize that there is an ethical limit to what we can submit an animal to for our entertainment and profit. Please keep asking questions.

Answer 2

Quit pumping these Thoroughbreds with steroids from a very young age - before they are of racing age - until they are done with racing. The time is now to get to an oats & water policy, instead of these shortcuts is causing untold problems.

Drugs are making the breed in North America very unsound and this nation's industry must fall in line with countries like Japan and South Africa that have zero-tolerance policies, unless there is an injury or illness.

Answer 3

Horse deaths, while tragic, are more commonplace than you might think.  they occur at a rate of about 1.6 per 1000 starts.  that sounds small, but that translates to about 2 deaths a day around the globe.  as for their treatment, Horses are treated like kings by their owners and trainers.  they are some of the best treated animals on the planet, if not out of love, than for the investment that they are.  

it has nothing to do with the horses being run so young.  the high visibility is what makes it seem like such an "Epidemic".

Answer 4

I DEFINITELY agree. Although I love racing and the whole racing buisness-- and I'm also going to breed, own, and train my own race horses---I believe that they start those Thoroughbreds WAAAY too young. Two years old is practically still a yearling! The age is SIX years old to be completely developed.....no wonder these horses are always collapsing.....something needs to be done about. If they were all older and filled out, this wouldn't happen!