The Kentucky Derby is so sadly American

[Anonymous]

From an article prompted by the death of 44 horses at one racetrack (Santa Anita, CA) in a single year:

"Track owners worry that without reform horse racing may go the way of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which after more than 140 years as “The Greatest Show on Earth” closed in 2017 amid concerns about the way it treated its animals.

“As the recent tragedies at Santa Anita have illustrated, thoroughbred horse racing in the United States is at a crossroads,” the Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita and Pimlico in Baltimore, among other tracks, said in a statement. “The fact that horses running in America are five times more likely to suffer a catastrophic injury than horses running in international venues is unacceptable and must ­immediately change.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/california-considers-the-unthinkable-canceling-horse-racing-at-santa-anita-park/2019/04/11/28608498-5af1-11e9-a00e-050dc7b82693_story.html

After reading this and similar stories, I was never able to enjoy that thrill of watching the Kentucky Derby again. And it was a thrill. Watching the horses, with the announcer calling race-- there is nothing else like it in sports.

[Anonymous]

The injuries and vulnerability between American thoroughbreds and European thoroughbreds is largely due to the training programs. Uk horses regularly train on uneven terrain, hack out on trails and don’t usually stable at the track so they can enjoy turnout and “play” that helps strengthen bone and tendon. There are us trainers who follow this model but few big time trainers- mostly steeplechasers and turf trainers. If the us was to adopt this widely you would see far fewer fatal injuries in horses.

[Anonymous]

The Kentucky Derby has its roots in the post-slavery South and Jim Crow. Half of the first 25 Derby winners were black. Then Jim Crow happened and basically the black riders, trainers, and owners were kicked out of the Derby by elite Southern whites. The focus by the Derby on owners and the crowd - rather than the athletes - is a legacy of its Jim Crow roots.

https://theconversation.com/how-african-americans-disappeared-from-the-kentucky-derby-76908

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From an article prompted by the death of 44 horses at one racetrack (Santa Anita, CA) in a single year:

"Track owners worry that without reform horse racing may go the way of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which after more than 140 years as “The Greatest Show on Earth” closed in 2017 amid concerns about the way it treated its animals.

“As the recent tragedies at Santa Anita have illustrated, thoroughbred horse racing in the United States is at a crossroads,” the Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita and Pimlico in Baltimore, among other tracks, said in a statement. “The fact that horses running in America are five times more likely to suffer a catastrophic injury than horses running in international venues is unacceptable and must ­immediately change.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/california-considers-the-unthinkable-canceling-horse-racing-at-santa-anita-park/2019/04/11/28608498-5af1-11e9-a00e-050dc7b82693_story.html

After reading this and similar stories, I was never able to enjoy that thrill of watching the Kentucky Derby again. And it was a thrill. Watching the horses, with the announcer calling race-- there is nothing else like it in sports.

+1

Derby fans are either cruel or uneducated or both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From an article prompted by the death of 44 horses at one racetrack (Santa Anita, CA) in a single year:

"Track owners worry that without reform horse racing may go the way of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which after more than 140 years as “The Greatest Show on Earth” closed in 2017 amid concerns about the way it treated its animals.

“As the recent tragedies at Santa Anita have illustrated, thoroughbred horse racing in the United States is at a crossroads,” the Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita and Pimlico in Baltimore, among other tracks, said in a statement. “The fact that horses running in America are five times more likely to suffer a catastrophic injury than horses running in international venues is unacceptable and must ­immediately change.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/california-considers-the-unthinkable-canceling-horse-racing-at-santa-anita-park/2019/04/11/28608498-5af1-11e9-a00e-050dc7b82693_story.html

After reading this and similar stories, I was never able to enjoy that thrill of watching the Kentucky Derby again. And it was a thrill. Watching the horses, with the announcer calling race-- there is nothing else like it in sports.

The problem at Santa Anita was due to illegal doping, not to training. While US training has plenty of room for improvement, there was a specific and terrible issue at Santa Anita. The Derby is a different race at a different track. Breakdowns are rare and tragic at the Derby, unlike Santa Anita where they are all too common.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What kinda post is this? Have you ever been? I’m black and I’ve been and they’re kinda fun. What do you have against your own country?

Why do people love sparking divisive topics here? I don’t get it.

I don't understand this either. There's a lot of it here, on DCUM and IRL. I don't get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A bunch of preening white people in a muddy field under perpetually overcast skies thinking they are “sophisticated” and doing their best cosplay of American royalty.

Meanwhile, a bunch of Latino immigrants are actually getting sh#t done, training and riding the horses, running the event. It’s sadly comical.

Is there a better allegory for the degenerate navel gazing of the American elite? I’m watching this on TV and just gobsmacked by how they interview wealthy housewives about their dumb hats while ignoring everyone who makes it happen.

I’m sure the vast majority of people would rather be at the Derby, than spending time with someone as hopelessly uptight and funless as you.

[Anonymous]

Wait, an American sporting event is American? How is that possible?

[Anonymous]

Kentucky Bourbon is great. Among the best whiskey in the world. I don't care what race the people who make it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You've never been to a Derby, have you OP? It's a blast and should be on everyone's bucket list.

I'm quite sure liberals exist to squeeze out any enjoyment in life possible, because everything is racist, offensive, bad for the environment, oppressive, or who knows what
. At some point, nothing will.pass their purity tests.. We will all be eating grass, twigs, and wearing loin cloths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You've never been to a Derby, have you OP? It's a blast and should be on everyone's bucket list.

I'm quite sure liberals exist to squeeze out any enjoyment in life possible, because everything is racist, offensive, bad for the environment, oppressive, or who knows what
. At some point, nothing will.pass their purity tests.. We will all be eating grass, twigs, and wearing loin cloths.

If you didn't make the loin cloth yourself, it's exploitative. And if you did, it's appropriative.

[Anonymous]

Of course the Kentucky Derby is American. It takes place in the US. But if you think that horse racing is a solely American sport or that getting all gussied up to go to a horse race is an original American idea, I think you need to get out more, OP.

[Anonymous]

Here we go with the cancel culture again.

[Anonymous]

700-800 racehorses are injured/die on American racetracks every year. They have been bred so their bodies are too big for their legs. It should be banned, it’s cruel and the only purpose is human entertainment and money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The injuries and vulnerability between American thoroughbreds and European thoroughbreds is largely due to the training programs. Uk horses regularly train on uneven terrain, hack out on trails and don’t usually stable at the track so they can enjoy turnout and “play” that helps strengthen bone and tendon. There are us trainers who follow this model but few big time trainers- mostly steeplechasers and turf trainers. If the us was to adopt this widely you would see far fewer fatal injuries in horses.

This is a fact.

The breakdowns at Santa Anita have nothing to do with Churchill Downs.

I have been to the Derby, and I have been an exercise rider for some topnotch trainers. What they show on TV gives one a bizarrely skewed view of the Derby, as I discovered the first time I went there.

Also, despite having been to the Derby, having been involved peripherally in racing, and having grown up watching an analyzing the Triple Crown with my jockey grandfather, I am very liberal and not 100% White.