Updates on the death of Eight Belles
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It seems many of us are still talking about Kentucky Derby runner-up Eight Belles, at left in the photo with first-place finisher Big Brown.
Today Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post asks: Was the death of Eight Belles good for something, or nothing? She continues:
How you reply to that question depends on whether you think thoroughbred racing is a meaningful pursuit worthy of reform, or just a fancied-up vice and form of abuse. On one end of the spectrum are the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who would like to saddle up Eight Belles’ handlers and whip them around a track to see how they like it. On the other are the apologists, who contend that the loss of a horse is just one more unavoidable accident of life. Stuck in the middle are the confused rest of us.
She points to a story in the New York Times, which reported ‘that on the same day Eight Belles died, 15 other horses were injured at 39 North American tracks, nine of them so seriously they had to be carried from tracks in ambulances.’
Jenkins continues, ‘According to the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit, there are two fatalities for every 1,000 starts on American dirt tracks. No wonder that the handlers of only one of the horses who ran in the Derby are even considering entry into the Preakness.’
In the meantime, the trainer of Eight Belles has ordered drug testing as part of the autopsy, intent on dispelling any suggestion the fallen filly may have been on steroids. Check out the latest on the controversy over Eight Belles.
--Alice Short
