A Citizen’s Reflection On Horse Racing In America

Posted on July 21, 2009 in Animals, Business/Law, Health & Medicine, Opinion

With the annual seven weeks of horse races at Del Mar, CA about to kick off, I decided to take a look at horse racing, a spectator sport that is steeped in tradition and at times controversy.

The late Hunter S. Thompson wrote about the 1970 Kentucky Derby with a specific angle in mind. In fact to warn his readers of his unique point view, Thompson wrote, “And unlike most of the others in the press box, we didn’t give a hoot in hell what was happening on the track. We had come there to watch the real beasts perform.”

Thompson’s essay on the Kentucky Derby was not transfixed on the horses but rather on the spectators that rushed to Churchill Downs. By the end of his grotesque account of the traditional horse race, Thompson perceived patrons of the Derby as ravenous monsters.

I bring attention to Thompson’s famous report on horse racing in America because it reveals the true dangers of the sport -those in the industry who go to any length to gain a profit. American horse racing is not necessarily wrong but it’s an industry that can foster greed and overlook abuse.

There are those who passionately feel that horse racing should be banned on the basis of animal cruelty but I think there many horse breeders, trainers and jockeys who would be the first to say they are animal lovers not torturers.

From the ancient Romans to modern Americans, racing horses is a sport that has a lengthy timeline. And along with being a popular equestrian sport, “The Sport of Kings” is also a game of odds. Gambling is major part of horse racing. It drives revenue for everyone involved in the industry along with contributing to the economy. The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) stated in their 2008 report, that it collected $35,868,519 from horse races for the state of California.

Animal activists say that since states get money generated from horse races the sport is not heavily regulated. But in a 2008 report CHRB chairman Richard Shapiro says that his board is pushing to test more horses for steroids and other illegal drugs.

This may sound like a mere talking point since increase testing doesn’t necessarily stop the use of performance enhancing drugs. But CHRB’s intolerance for drug use and other illegal acts shows some autonomy between horse racing and the state’s regulatory board.

The image of Eight Belles falling to her knees and soon after to her death during last year’s Kentucky Derby put the darker side of horse racing into the spotlight. Besides the physical stress that racing can place on a horse, Eight Belles’ demise revealed that injury or poor performance can lead to death.

In fact, ESPN sports writer Willem Marx reported there was an average 1.5 deaths for every 1,000 starts in American racing, according to studies conducted at around 10 American racecourses over more than one season.

American horse racing in comparison to other countries yields a higher volume of horse fatalities. Many experts say that there are looser regulations when it comes to drugs in the US compared to other countries.

For example, administering drugs such as Salix, which is used to control hemorrhaging in a horse’s lungs during a race, is legal in the US but illegal in Europe and Asia. Other drugs being used are designed for humans while other drugs like actual snake venom is used purely because it can’t be detected. These are the atrocities that should be outright banned.

In all its glory, horse racing can be an exciting sport that link spectators to ancient civilizations, but at its lowest, American horse racing is a science of greed, drugs and death.

Although there is a definite dark side to horse racing, a side that Thompson could see all too clearly, I believe there are good people in the industry who love horses, who know horses better than I ever would and who committed their life to breeding and training horses.

I think the high stakes that American horse racing prides itself on is the same driving force behind doping horses up with a buffet of illegal drugs. We need not chastise the sport itself but demand more regulations like probing tests that can detect a wider range of drugs and harsher repercussions for those who administer drugs. We, as spectators, should demand that our country’s horse racing industry have a stricter stance on drugs so trainers and owners are guided by common goals rather than greed.