Horse races are one of the oldest sports, and while they have evolved from primitive contests of speed or stamina into a multibillion-dollar public entertainment business that involves crowded race fields, sophisticated electronic monitoring equipment, and immense sums of money, their essential features remain unchanged. The horse that crosses the finish line first wins. But behind the romanticized facade of Thoroughbred racing lies a world of drug abuse, gruesome breakdowns, and slaughter. Whether you are a fan of the sport or not, it is important to understand the dark side of horse racing and what can be done to improve it.
In the last decade, horseracing has begun to take a beating from an increasingly disillusioned public that has been shocked and turned off by its often brutal treatment of horses. In a 2011 study commissioned by the Jockey Club, researchers revealed that the industry was losing fans, revenue, race days, and entries at an alarming rate. This is in part due to growing awareness of the dark side of racing, including a culture of corruption and cruelty that has long been tolerated by hardheaded moneymen.
The story of Eight Belles and Medina Spirit, both champions who died from the extreme physical stress of running in America’s most prestigious races, has sparked a much-needed reckoning with the sport’s ethics and integrity. Their deaths, like that of the great racehorse Secretariat, are only the latest in a series of tragedies that have forced racing to address its ethical and moral failures.
There are essentially three types of people in the horse racing world. There are the crooks who dangerously drug or otherwise abuse their horses, there are those in the middle who labor under the fantasy that the sport is broadly fair and honest, and then there are the far too many good people who know that things are rotten but won’t give it their all to fix them.
In general, most horse owners are honorable people. But there are also some who are not, and if you can witness the death of a young racehorse that you have watched run notably and move on without even a pang of remorse, you are to the detriment of these animals.
A few words of terminology to help you get acquainted with the jargon used in horse racing:
In the early years of American racing, there were few rules to govern the conduct of a race. In the 1660s, colonial commander Colonel Richard Nicolls laid out a 2-mile course in New Amsterdam (now New York City), and he offered a silver cup to the best horse in a spring and fall season of races. From the start, the hallmark of excellence for the American Thoroughbred was stamina. After the Civil War, the emphasis shifted to speed. By the 1850s, the best American horses were rivaling European competitors on speed alone. By then, the British system of handicapping had developed and standardized races were established in which a certain amount of weight was assigned to each entrant based on his or her age, sex, birthplace, and previous performance.