What an exciting day race day can be. The Kentucky Derby is the biggest of the three races in the Triple Crown. However, tragedy struck this year.
Big Brown looked ridiculous during this race. The three year old colt looked like a best while racing at the Derby. He ended up winning by about 5 lengths. He was supposed to win and he did. He paid out some decent money for folks.
That was not the story though. With the tremendous triumph of Big Brown still fresh in the air, tragedy had struck. It wasn’t well known at the time but the second place finisher was down. Eight Belles, the three year old filly, had broken both of her front ankles and had collapsed. It was an extremely serious injury. She was almost immediately euthanized. The trainer and the owner did not give the ok to do it but the doctor decided to do it.
What’s the big deal? It’s just a horse, right? Well yes, that’s true. But there is much more to it. It brings up the issue of animal cruelty. Are we pushing these young horses too hard? Do they deserved to be whipped as they are? Is it right to give them anti-inflammatory medicines before racing?
All of those questions are difficult to answer. Are we being overly cruel to these animals. In my opinion, yes. It is time we improve the standards in American Horse Racing. We are supposed to be a country that rises about the others. Instead we treat these animals as nothing more than money machines. They are pumped full of pain meds so that they are able to push through painful injuries. It inhibits the horse’s natural ability to know that is hurt. The whipping? I won’t even get into how stupid that is. There needs to be changes in horse racing very quickly. We don’t need to see any more animals euthanized on the track. In fact, let’s not have it happen again.
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