As I stated before the rich snob comment was only because of the red carpet event crap that was on before the race. I have backed from that comment since. We all know that there are all kinds of walks of life at that event.

As for the horse thing, I’m still not so sure about it. FavreFan you have far more patience than I arguing with Irish Boy. I just wanted to put that thought out there and have Irish Boy try to look at something from both sides, not just his own. I’m not for sure how I feel about it. I would also argue somewhat to Beardown saying “horses run” so whats the big deal? Well, are these wild horses bred to run like this? All the training and managed diet to run in the Unnatural state of a horse race on a track? Again, I’m not really for sure where I stand on this. I’m certainly not a PETA person, but I find it somewhat amusing that when it comes to sport so many of us will come to the defense of it without actually taking time to truly think about this ethical question. Oh, it’s one of our national past times. How dare anyone try to think about the ethics of such a race?

From Bloodhorse.com

Early indications are that none of the horses that finished behind Big Brown in his impressive 4 3/4-length victory in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) will move on to the May 17 Preakness Stakes (gr. I).

Interviews with losing trainers and their connections the morning after the Derby revealed deep respect for the winner and no desire to face him again soon.

David Carroll, the Churchill Downs-based trainer whose Denis of Cork ran third, said the colt will be pointed toward the June 7 Belmont Stakes (gr. I).



Talk about a snore setting up for the Preakness.

I thought Recapturetheglory was going to give it a shot

As a casual horseracing fan here is my take on the lives of horses in racing.

It sucks when a horse must be euthanized because they have a catastrophic injury. This seems to happen a lot and is definitely the worst part of the sport.

For argument's sake, let's say that a horse when born could choose where he went for his life.
1) Into the wild to fight for survival and compete with other animals for food and survival
2) Go to work at a farm, stable, or other things with humans who will use them for labor for their entire life
3) Attempt to become a racehorse. Get the best diet, training, and care. Spend the first 3-4 years of your life attempting to win races and then the rest of your life out to stud with your primary goal to be used for your quality reproductive material.

Now 1 would suck. You don't see many wild horses in the wild but it's the option that is most likely to end up with you getting eaten or starving.
2 would be alright, but you pretty much spend your life pulling a cart, or doing other work. I'm not saying this is a bad life but you don't have access to the million dollar facilities and care of a racehorce. You can still get injured severely doing this and be put down.
I think most horses would choose 3. You are running at a high speed and obviously you can have a catastrophic injury but I think your quality of life is best with this one.

It sucks that horses have a leg structure that leads to injury but that risk is there whether they are a racehorse or not. I'm sure horses get put down on farms or other places a lot too. It just doesn't happen with millions of people watching.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Good stuff Rick.

Per the same article I found that, Louis Roussel III was shipping him back to his Illinois barn and give him some time off.

Thankfully option 4 was removed by the Illinois legislature a few months ago which was become a racehorse, suck and be sold to a meat grinder in Dekalb to have your meat sent to Europe to eat.

I've looked at it from both sides. I just don't agree with one of the sides. Why do I have to argue from this mealy-mouthed, "who's to say what's right?" point of view? You don't do that when you believe in something, and neither do I. Besides, Rick's points were pretty much my own; if horseracing is immoral, a whole bunch of things are much worse, and those are the alternatives.

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Fire Phil Emery

The morality of horse racing isn't black or white (or Big Brown) though. Even if you feel that it is acceptable it doesn't free it from criticism. Horse's bone structures are strongest when they're about 5 years old so what's so important that they have them racing for the triple crown at 3? If you're going to race them at 3 anyway why do they need to run 1 1/4 miles at the Derby or 1 1/2 miles at the Belmont? Obviously "tradition," but that's hardly a sound argument.

It doesn't help that a lot breeders are scumbags. Eight Belles was sired by Unbridled's Song who has a "track record" (ha) of siring horses that break down. You now have a filly at 17 hands (flippin' huge) with a history of breaking down in her lineage running 1 1/4 miles as a 3 year old. It's a recipe for disaster but there's money to be made. And what's all this extensive unsound breeding getting them? There's still only 2 horses that have run under 2 minutes in the Derby and one was a freak of nature. There's all this talk about the spectacle and how it's entertainment so it's ok and how these horses are treated like royalty. They're treated like expensive investments. If these owners and trainers really loved horses I'm not quite sure why they'd subject them to the stress of racing. They do it for the money.

I'll sound the alarmist bell too on Big Brown. He may have a better chance of breaking down by the end of the Belmont than winning the Triple Crown.

Interesting you brought up the Unbridled line KDdidit. There is alot of discussion going on in the horse racing circles about this right now. Unbridled's Song had 99 horses run this year and one broke down. That's 1% of horses. One percent too much in my opinion, but anyway, who's fault is it? The sire? The trainers? The horse? I mean you can't be in the sport and run scared because possibly the horse you paid 800K for has an outside chance of breaking a leg. That can happen to any horse at any time.

Is that true for sure?

Almost all horses are investments. Unless you are a rich family who buys a horse for their kid, then you are using a horse to make money whether it is through racing, labor, or breeding.

I'm not trying to act like I'm an expert on horses as I am not, but I don't see how it's worse for a horse to be trained to race as compared to being trained to pull a plow or pull a cart.

Is that horse underneath the CPD officer really happier or better off than a race horse? Is a police horse less likely to get injured or treated better?

All horses, unless the horse happens to be a glorified pet, are an investment.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Having Raise A Native in the blood lines didn't do Eight Belles any favors either. I hate to make a sweeping generalization, but in my mind, if you ask the question about whose fault is it and you can make a case for a bunch of reasons (The sire? The trainers? The horse?), the answer sadly becomes Horse Racing in general.

Unrelated to your quote, I also don't think people just saying "well it's racing, horses die," really helps anything.

I agree, I don't have a problem that they're treated that way. I just bring that up because "The Sport of Kings" line gets pretty annoying, like the noblest thing a horse can aspire to is running around a track for our amusement.

[quote="KDdidit" like the noblest thing a horse can aspire to is running around a track for our amusement.[/quote]

I also find this line of thinking not really working for me. Like I'm just supposed to succumb to the idea of that's the best way for a horse to live a life. Again, I don't care. At this point I'm interested in how we're so quick to protect sport. I think Rick makes good points.

I want to like horse racing, I really do. I can't watch the old ESPN SportsCentury on Secretariat without tearing up. I spent some great times at Arlington with my grandfather who was close friends with Russ Reineman who is a big name locally in racing. I have a picture of myself in the winners circle at Arlington with one of his horses (Button 48). In the end though I just can't get behind it. Animals die during these events for my enjoyment. For me it's as simple as that. Is it dogfighting levels of bad? Of course not. But in the end the results are the same. Just because they're treated better and less likely to die doesn't detract from the point that some of them do die and for no other reason than money and entertainment. I'm not all PETA-crazy thinking that horse racing needs to be shut down. It can keep going and I won't lose sleep over it, but I just morally can't enjoy it.

Ah Russ Reineman who is famous for selling War Emblem before the Derby for 1 million dollars. His stable had a nice filly in Original Spin who was never the same after a 3rd place finish in the Breeders Cup Juv Fillies back in 2005.