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Just Another Jim

Just Another Essay



From Eight Belles to Bicycles

Essay Posted May 6, 2008 by James E. Nelson

I’m not a horse racing afficionado, but I do like the Kentucky Derby and watching all the races of the day is a bit of a tradition at our house. My interest in the Derby is twofold. First, I went to seminary in Louisville and came to enjoy the pre-Derby events a great deal while we lived there. Second, I was a ticket taker one year at the Downs on Derby Day. It was all great fun and left a lasting impression on me.

It therefore goes without saying that I have nothing authoritative to say about the euthanization of Eight Belles after she broke both front legs following the race. But this tragedy reminds me of certain other sporting travesties, and I suspect most commentators won’t make these connections.

First some background is in order. There is a debate about whether there is a growing danger to the horses in horse racing. Historically (according to ESPN experts, one horse in every 670 that leaves the gate either dies during the race or has to be killed shortly after the race because of injury. According to some official sources, this ratio has remained steady since 1940 when such records started being kept. Other industry sources with access to the same data say that those numbers haven’t held steady. Now, about one in every 600 horses that leaves the gate will die or be killed as a result of the race.

Whether it’s still one in 670 or one in 600, that is rather shocking. This raises two questions in my mind. First, if catastrophic injury is that common, should we sit idly by? Sled dog racing in Alaska would be shut down completely if a similar number of dogs died during a racing season. These numbers also make experts wonder if there isn’t a problem with breeding methods. Thoroughbreds used to be a lot tougher horses, but selective breeding has led to a horse that, while faster, is significantly more thin boned and frail. It would seem that the interests of the animals have been ignored as the goal of winning more races and making more money is sought, no matter what the cost.

As is the nature of statistics, both defenders and detractors of breeding practices can make the statistics support their position. But the question of breeding and bloodlines can’t be avoided for another reason. Eight Belles broke both front legs. The reason they killed the horse immediately was that Eight Belles’ injury was exactly the same injury that occurred to Barbaro two years earlier. Barbaro suffered terribly for a few months before they finally decided nothing could be done for his one broken leg and they put him down. Identical injuries to two Kentucky Derby contenders over a three year period could be written off as coincidence, except that both horses came from the blood line of Native Dancer, another great thoroughbred who had leg problems.

This whole tragic affair reminds me of another sordid affair that was also a direct result of taking dangerous chances all for the sake of winning. Two years ago Floyd Landis was stripped of his gold jersey in the Tour de France amidst accusations of blood doping and performance enhancing drugs. Following the Landis affair a series of investigations has led to dozens of cyclers and their handlers either being banned from the sport or fined heavily. The sport is still in a shambles after everything that has been uncovered.

(Of course, there’s also baseball—and all other professional sports for that matter—that have gone through the same process in recent years. But I only follow those scandals with bemused interest. The Kentucky Derby and bicycle racing, on the other hand, are near and dear to my heart.)

The drug connection isn’t all that distant from horse racing either. The trainer of Big Brown, the winner of the Kentucky Derby, and best hope for a Triple Crown winner since Barbaro went down with a broken leg, has a history of horse doping. He has been both fined and suspended at different times in his career. But in spite of his slimy past, the owners of Big Brown chose him as a trainer because he gets results.

Getting results . . .

Big time sports is no longer about the sport nor about the entertainment value. It’s about getting results along with the subsequent financial bonanza no matter what it takes to do it. I’m not naive enough to think this is anything new. I suspect if the records still existed we could find similar scandals back in the original Olympics when naked Grecians were running, jumping, and throwing for a wreath of laurel leaves.

But with today’s science of genetics and a whole host of designer drugs which turn athletes into super-human winners—if they don’t fly off into a rage and kill their spouse or children first—the stakes are rather different. People and horses are dying as a result of the desire to make millions off of sport. The death of Eight Belles, if nothing else, is a sad commentary on our values.