Internal Dialogue
In the two years since Barbaro broke down in the Preakness Stakes, there have been seven breakdowns on racing's biggest days: Barbaro, Fleet Indian, Pine Island, Mending Fences, George Washington, Chelokee, and Eight Belles.
That's seven breakdowns on national television, but I didn't need the boob tube to bring me the visuals. I saw all of them live.
A lot of people reach a breaking point when it comes to seeing animals suffer in this sport. Some haven't watched a race since Ruffian or Go For Wand or Barbaro. For others, maybe Eight Belles was the last straw.
I'll be back for more, though. I'm Baltimore bound in a week and looking forward to the race. Does that make me a bad person?
Part of me thinks I should feel worse than I do about this, and another part tells me that I mourned and that it's time to move on. Is that callous?
I love this game, and as I saw Eight Belles go still on the track I loved that horse.
I tell myself that in heaven, she runs in a meadow with no pain. Horses gather around her, and she regales them with stories of how she took on the boys in the world's greatest race.
In Heaven, she is peers with the bottom-level claimer who died in a slaughterhouse. They all run, and God help me, they all forgive us for what we put them through.
Posted by Ed, May 5, 2008 12:18 PM
Comments
Posted by Teresa, May 5, 2008 02:13 PM
I actually meant Pine Island -- thanks for the correction. I knew Smuggler didn't sound right.
See you in Baltimore?
Posted by EJXD2, May 5, 2008 02:15 PM
I wish the people expressing moral outrage would maybe turn their attention to the war in Iraq. PETA should be asking that George Bush be suspended, not Gabe Saez. I also would love to see horse racing confront its myriad issues so folks like Ed can continue to enjoy the greatest game in the whole world.
The worst, to me, is those who demand Polytrack to stop breakdowns and those who say put more space between the Triple Crown races and start racing the animals at a later age. All of this is wrong. Bottom line: Stop trying to adjust the sport to meet the needs of a weakening horse; breed a horse that can survive the rigors of the job it's being asked to do. And that includes eliminating injury-masking medications and steroids.
It's like saying baseball needs to keep moving in the fences because the players can no longer hit it out of the park. If that ever were the case, we would clearly ask, 'What the hell has happened to the big, strong men?' Well, that's the question horse racing REFUSES to acknowledge. It's systemic and it's killing our game.
Posted by Blinkers Off, May 5, 2008 02:25 PM
And I thought to myself, "Smuggler? I didn't even realize she'd broken down ..."
Baltimore is a big maybe ... but wherever I am, I'll be watching.
Posted by Teresa, May 5, 2008 05:30 PM
The Big Maybe.
That's a good name.
Posted by John S., May 5, 2008 05:33 PM
To the guy who said they forgive us?? What have you done? They forgive me as I have personally gone to the the lay up barns where the owners no longer want to pay the bill and bought 5 for 1200 to 2400 a piece brought them home, iced wrapped stalled feed and hand walked them an hour a day ... so I am sure they forgive me ... but the rest of you ... what have you done ... I am going out to feed my once broke down Seattle Slew granddaughter who was trashed in her first start ... run again, and broke down again ... I will ask her if she forgives you?
Posted by dressagejunkie, May 6, 2008 01:46 AM
What's your point, dressagejunkie?
Posted by anon, May 6, 2008 10:51 AM
Hate to add another, but there's Pine Island, too.
Thoughtfully and sensitively expressed, and gets at the heart of the conflict so many of us have been feeling for the last two days.