First and foremost, my thanks to readers and those who took the time to read and respond to my commentary on the death of Eight Belles and thoroughbred horse racing. Whether you agreed or disagreed, the debate provided more than a few talking points for both sides.
As a follow-up, I am both dismayed and insulted by the actions of PETA in the wake of this tragedy. The call for punishment of the jockey was at the same time laughable and misguided. PETA's action in this case only help to feed the argument from those who feel, and rightly so many times, that in attempting to stop the cruelty of animals PETA often brings nothing but ridicule on themselves for illogical public relations stunts.
PETA had a chance to use this event as a new starting point for meaningful change and dialogue, but buried those good intentions in a morass of pathetic controversy. Too often PETA wants to be the story instead of addressing the story. In this instance, they only helped to damage not only their credibility, but that of those who look upon this as a passionate debate that needs sensible solutions. Gabriel Saez can no more be held accountable for the death of Eight Belles than Edgar Prado could be blamed for the death of Barbaro.
I am heartened to see more than one faction in the thoroughbred industry address the issue, though I will admit to waiting for more than lip service. The Jockey Club has formed a seven-person panel that will examine breeding practices, track surfaces, medication, and racing rules.
The Thoroughbred Safety Committee, part of the National Thoroughbred Racing Alliance, has announced its own fact-finding group as well. However, I must admit that even the casual observer would raise more than one eyebrow at the statement issued by NTRA President Alex Waldrop. According to him, their panel will—and I quote—"provide the examination of the horse welfare and safety issues so badly needed in the wake of recent catastrophic injuries."
No offense, Mr. Waldrop, but what was your first clue that something was amiss? The manner in which this was addressed seemed as if the NTRA was shocked with horse deaths and the potential for mistreatment, as if it was something that had never reared its ugly yet exceptionally visible head at anytime in the recent past. If it was so badly needed, why has it taken this long? Why has it taken another national television tragedy to elicit a reaction?
Therein lies the reason, of course. Were this to happen at any other track on any other day and was not seen by a large worldwide audience with sponsor billboards flashing from spire to spire, I fear the NTRA and the Jockey Club would have taken a seat on their collective saddles and went about business as usual.
My proof for that reasoning is simple and evident. Deaths such as these and medical mistreatment of horses happens almost every day at almost every track. It is only when a harsh glare of national media attention and the potential for embarrassed sponsors to put their checkbooks away is any action truly taken. Sad to say this reaction is certainly not endemic to the thoroughbred industry alone.
In response to my original commentary, one writer questioned whether I had the intestinal fortitude to do more than just write about the issues. We all have to start somewhere,and here's where I take a first step
Many of you are aware that I am involved in the sports news website Speeding Bullet Network. Prior to the Kentucky Derby, we featured a good friend and national thoroughbred analyst previewing the race and the Triple Crown. We provided a link to their website, and announced this coverage to our media and members list.
As with any major sports story, we covered it as a service to our viewers and listeners. As a news organization we would then cover the outcome of the race and continue our coverage into the Preakness, Belmont Stakes, Breeders Cup and other notable events.
Not any more. Not ever again unless there is substantive change.
We're not a major broadcast network, but we are a news service with an editorial responsibility to ourselves and those we serve. We will no longer cover any thoroughbred racing events on the site.There will be no previews of events, no review, no analysis, and no promotion.
We will, however, continue to cover this story with guests such as columnist Tim Sullivan from the San Diego Union-Tribune, who wrote an on-target piece about the Eight Belles death and its aftermath. Mr. Sullivan's comments are still available at the site, offering some interesting comments from his own perspective, and are very fair-handed to both sides of the debate.
We will not limit our coverage to negative articles about the industry. If there is positive action taken that reflects well on the industry, we will cover and present it. We will also take the same tack to comments and opinions on what still seems to be a "non-story" to many who make their living off these marvelous animals. The same people who insure backside track workers earn poverty wages with little or no benefits, while they enjoy the fruits of those labors.
In the grand scheme of things, it may seem to be nothing more than a pin drop in the ocean of debate around this issue. But it's a start. Until thoroughbred racing enacts meaningful change in the way they do business, I cannot in good conscience help to put one single, non-wagered nickel in their pockets.
Certainly there are larger issues in sports and many other embargoes that could be initiated. Some will say why not refuse to cover baseball because of alleged widespread HGH use? Forgo any discussion of the NFL until they uncover any and all who cheat using video cameras? Drop all NBA coverage until the players stop acting like the children some of them are, or college basketball until the players are actually forced to attend class?
Let's not forget hockey until they stop tinkering with game like some toy always missing a few parts from the factory. Or even NASCAR until they get off their fire-suited seats and do something about a drug problem everyone knows about but on one wants to talk about.
Isn't there some better use of your time to take a meaningful stand on a sports issue that would truly impact more than a handful of players and fans???
Every other athlete has either their own voice or someone representing them to speak up and ask for better treatment. Every other athlete has the opportunity to say no. Every other athlete never has to worry about being abused into a state of competition.
Every other athlete takes part in a sport that will actually do something swiftly when one of them is severely injured. Or dies.
I am neither a rabid animal-rights activist, nor a vegan, nor one who believes that killing even an ant is a crime. I respect those who do believe in those disciplines, but cannot subscribe to them.
But the ability to continue speaking out on this issue and to cease promoting this alleged sport is what I can do at the moment. I hope to do more.
For the part of those who are also insulted by the permanent blinders being worn by those who run this industry, make your own stand if you so choose. It could include not watching the Preakness. Avoiding the Belmont Stakes. Not wagering even a small bob at the local track or the OTB parlor. But don't do it or even consider it because I said so. Make your own decision.
And finally, yes I do have empathy for those who make their living in the thoroughbred industry and often have to live paycheck to paycheck just to make ends meet. I've known many of these hard working people over the years. Their dedication and passion for these animals is at times inspiring and other times sad to see. Because many of them know the dark side of this industry but cannot speak a word for fear or losing their jobs.
For these people and those who make an honest living at the tracks and farms, I can only ask you not to blame the messenger.
Blame those who send the messages. The ones that for too long have stated their obvious lack of concern for anything that might impact their now-dwindling bank accounts thanks to decades of meaningful inaction.
They are the ones you should direct your anger toward. Not the media. Not the jockey. And certainly not Eight Belles.
Perhaps noted self-help author Dennis Waitley said it best:
"Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable, and remove yourself from the unacceptable".
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5 months ago
Charge the Owner with Cruelty! See Paul Moran's blog entry prior to the race....
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Eight Belles deserves better
Louisville, Ky.
Where are the animal rights activists when you need them?
Eight Belles was entered in the 134th Kentucky Derby on Wednesday. Success would demand that she run 10 furlongs faster than 19 males. There is the most remote possibility that she will succeed, this covered by one of life’s immutable truths: Anything can happen in a horse race.
What is far more likely is that Eight Belles will be permanently scarred by the experience.
Three fillies have won the Derby, in 1915, Genuine Risk, Genuine Risk, in 1981, and Winning Colors, whose victory will mark its 20th anniversary on Saturday.
Regret, though she was generally unsound, was an extremely fast filly whose regularly defeated males. But Genuine Risk and Winning Colors were nothing like Eight Belles. Both were big, rugged fillies who competed against males on even physical terms. Winning Colors defeated males in the Santa Anita Derby before the Derby. Genuine Risk prepped for the Derby in the Wood Memorial, in which she finished third.
5 months ago
Eight Belles has nothing in common with those fillies.
She is, however, a beautifully conformed filly, light-framed and feminine. Her misfortune is not trainer Larry Jones, who skirts the issue uncomfortably. A trainer who criticizes the decisions made by an owner will not be training for long. Though he came here a year ago with Hard Spun, who was runner-up to Street Sense, Jones shows no symptoms of Derby fever and he seems uncomfortable discussing Eight Belles’ chances in the Derby. Owner Rick Porter, however, is apparently beset by Derby fever.
Unlike the three fillies who have won the Derby, Eight Belles has never faced males nor has she attempted a race beyond 1 1/16. She has won her last four races, one in New Orleans, three in Arkansas but none in Grade I company. She would be formidable in the Oaks on Friday, in which Jones has Proud Spell for more reasonable, less vain connections who are probably concerned with the welfare and well being of their prized filly.
5 months ago
There is no reason beyond vanity to run Eight Belles in the Derby, either. As a breeding prospect, her value may be increased but a broodmare can produce only one foal a year. Breeders found it almost impossible for Genuine Risk to conceive and Winning Colors has had no impact as a broodmare.
The only thing that might have saved Eight Belles from the cruelty she is about to endure was a poor post position but the draw put her connections sixth in order of selection, assuring a favorable position in the barrier a day after she drew the outside post in a field of 12 entered in the Oaks. She will face the firing squad from post five.
Porter has enjoyed great success, having owned the very good filly, Jostle, a Grade I winner in 2000, Round Pond, winner of the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Distaff and Hard Spun, who he sold for an enormous amount of money last year. Porter should know better. He should also show a bit of compassion for a very nice, still developing filly who, if he sends her into the teeth of a buzzsaw on Saturday, may very well leave he career in the shadows of the twin spires. If so, it will be a sad, sad day. –PM
4 months ago
Ed, you and the site your associated with should do as conscience dictates. Many feel as you do when confronted with events like this. I find the situation a bit more complex when I look at the incidence of death and disfigurement in blood sports and the accidental deaths and career-halting injuries in some of the other rougher sports. People break down and die jogging. The history of horse racing is bad as is the history of football and boxing and we are reminded again here in this moment of the need for even more improvements.
A comment about the US Government culling wild horse herds in the Bureau of Land Management lands and sending those over ten and not yet "adopted" to the slaughter houses is also in order here (and a bit more pressing if you're worried about horses). That's simple slaughter of a reintroduced native species to reduce their impact on public lands where commercial ranchers get a free ride for their grazing herds. That, to me, is another outrage against our partners, the horses.
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