Why is horse racing legal?

[Anonymous]

horse racing is an ancient sport and I don’t think it will disappear and fade the way greyhound racing is fading. It’s mostly because there is a lot of money in horse racing. A great deal of the money in us thoroughbred racing has an inexhaustible reserve - it comes from the Middle East. Many American horses are owned by Saudi oil barons. The richest race in the world is the Saudi cup, but the real money is in collecting stud fees of successful stallions. Financially, the racing industry feeds the breeding business, not the other way around.

Horse racing in Europe and Asia have fewer fatalities because of two main reasons - they don’t use all the drugs that American trainers use, and they race mostly on turf, which is softer than dirt, thus causing fewer injuries. Why don’t American horses race more on turf? It’s slower than dirt, and the races unfold in a different way. On turf, the ride builds gradually and usually comes down to a tight sprint at the end. On dirt, the pace is faster and there is usually more separation among horses at the end, as they tire and slow down.

Sadly, I don’t think concern for animal welfare is enough to shut down horse racing. There have been truly horrific incidents aside from the more well known events like Eight Belles and the recent spate of deaths. Google Maria Borell, Ferdinand, Alydar, Rick Dutrow, Medina Spirit and Bob Baffert, Jason Servis, Santa Anita deaths. The list goes on forever.

There have been some efforts to address the problems. Lasix has been banned from some tracks. Lasix is a diuretic (Lasix = lasts 6 hours) and is, I believe, where the phrase “pees like a racehorse” originated. But every crackdown reveals more and more rot. The crazy amounts of money being poured into American racing makes it difficult, if not impossible to truly reform.

[Anonymous]

I completely agree with you, OP. It's sickening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of the horses who died during Derby week, four had leg injuries, one died in a freak accident, and two (from the same trainer) collapsed for reasons as-yet-unknown.

Is that a high amount of leg injuries ? Just wondering.

Yes, due to bad breeding practices. It's been happening for years.

[Anonymous]

The meat and poultry industry is also cruel and barbaric. Vote with your forks, people.

[Anonymous]

Any and all animal racing should be banned imo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:horse racing is an ancient sport and I don’t think it will disappear and fade the way greyhound racing is fading. It’s mostly because there is a lot of money in horse racing. A great deal of the money in us thoroughbred racing has an inexhaustible reserve - it comes from the Middle East. Many American horses are owned by Saudi oil barons. The richest race in the world is the Saudi cup, but the real money is in collecting stud fees of successful stallions. Financially, the racing industry feeds the breeding business, not the other way around.

Horse racing in Europe and Asia have fewer fatalities because of two main reasons - they don’t use all the drugs that American trainers use, and they race mostly on turf, which is softer than dirt, thus causing fewer injuries. Why don’t American horses race more on turf? It’s slower than dirt, and the races unfold in a different way. On turf, the ride builds gradually and usually comes down to a tight sprint at the end. On dirt, the pace is faster and there is usually more separation among horses at the end, as they tire and slow down.

Sadly, I don’t think concern for animal welfare is enough to shut down horse racing. There have been truly horrific incidents aside from the more well known events like Eight Belles and the recent spate of deaths. Google Maria Borell, Ferdinand, Alydar, Rick Dutrow, Medina Spirit and Bob Baffert, Jason Servis, Santa Anita deaths. The list goes on forever.

There have been some efforts to address the problems. Lasix has been banned from some tracks. Lasix is a diuretic (Lasix = lasts 6 hours) and is, I believe, where the phrase “pees like a racehorse” originated. But every crackdown reveals more and more rot. The crazy amounts of money being poured into American racing makes it difficult, if not impossible to truly reform.

Turf is actually harder than dirt - which is why there are fewer injuries. A lot of the conditions that lead to fatal injuries in horses racing on dirt result from hyper-flexion of the pastern and then rotational injury in the tendons. “Bowed tendons” aka Achilles bow equivalent in humans - occur frequently. Not fatal, but once it happens most will not be suitable for racing. Breaks occur in horses in non-racing conditions frequently- you just don’t hear about them.

Owner of TBs - raced and unraced

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:horse racing is an ancient sport and I don’t think it will disappear and fade the way greyhound racing is fading. It’s mostly because there is a lot of money in horse racing. A great deal of the money in us thoroughbred racing has an inexhaustible reserve - it comes from the Middle East. Many American horses are owned by Saudi oil barons. The richest race in the world is the Saudi cup, but the real money is in collecting stud fees of successful stallions. Financially, the racing industry feeds the breeding business, not the other way around.

Horse racing in Europe and Asia have fewer fatalities because of two main reasons - they don’t use all the drugs that American trainers use, and they race mostly on turf, which is softer than dirt, thus causing fewer injuries. Why don’t American horses race more on turf? It’s slower than dirt, and the races unfold in a different way. On turf, the ride builds gradually and usually comes down to a tight sprint at the end. On dirt, the pace is faster and there is usually more separation among horses at the end, as they tire and slow down.

Sadly, I don’t think concern for animal welfare is enough to shut down horse racing. There have been truly horrific incidents aside from the more well known events like Eight Belles and the recent spate of deaths. Google Maria Borell, Ferdinand, Alydar, Rick Dutrow, Medina Spirit and Bob Baffert, Jason Servis, Santa Anita deaths. The list goes on forever.

There have been some efforts to address the problems. Lasix has been banned from some tracks. Lasix is a diuretic (Lasix = lasts 6 hours) and is, I believe, where the phrase “pees like a racehorse” originated. But every crackdown reveals more and more rot. The crazy amounts of money being poured into American racing makes it difficult, if not impossible to truly reform.

Horse racing is fading. It used to be a major sport and we’re down to one race that anyone cares about. The Maryland tracks all have to be subsidized by gambling other than betting on races to survive. It’s a niche sports that is all but dead, but with supporters powerful enough to get the government to step in

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The meat and poultry industry is also cruel and barbaric. Vote with your forks, people.

[Anonymous]

The Phipps family pour huge money into this barbaric sport

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:horse racing is an ancient sport and I don’t think it will disappear and fade the way greyhound racing is fading. It’s mostly because there is a lot of money in horse racing. A great deal of the money in us thoroughbred racing has an inexhaustible reserve - it comes from the Middle East. Many American horses are owned by Saudi oil barons. The richest race in the world is the Saudi cup, but the real money is in collecting stud fees of successful stallions. Financially, the racing industry feeds the breeding business, not the other way around.

Horse racing in Europe and Asia have fewer fatalities because of two main reasons - they don’t use all the drugs that American trainers use, and they race mostly on turf, which is softer than dirt, thus causing fewer injuries. Why don’t American horses race more on turf? It’s slower than dirt, and the races unfold in a different way. On turf, the ride builds gradually and usually comes down to a tight sprint at the end. On dirt, the pace is faster and there is usually more separation among horses at the end, as they tire and slow down.

Sadly, I don’t think concern for animal welfare is enough to shut down horse racing. There have been truly horrific incidents aside from the more well known events like Eight Belles and the recent spate of deaths. Google Maria Borell, Ferdinand, Alydar, Rick Dutrow, Medina Spirit and Bob Baffert, Jason Servis, Santa Anita deaths. The list goes on forever.

There have been some efforts to address the problems. Lasix has been banned from some tracks. Lasix is a diuretic (Lasix = lasts 6 hours) and is, I believe, where the phrase “pees like a racehorse” originated. But every crackdown reveals more and more rot. The crazy amounts of money being poured into American racing makes it difficult, if not impossible to truly reform.

Horse racing is fading. It used to be a major sport and we’re down to one race that anyone cares about. The Maryland tracks all have to be subsidized by gambling other than betting on races to survive. It’s a niche sports that is all but dead, but with supporters powerful enough to get the government to step in

Same is true of baseball but no one is predicting it will go away.

[Anonymous]

Keeping horses involves humane euthanasia even if they do nothing but eat grass in a big field. They’re prone to injury and very difficult to rehab. Not only are they not compliant, they’re not physically designed to rest. If you make a horse stay still, you’re going to start a cascade of other health problems.

Not to mention that they colic, etc. Someone who thinks it’s barbaric for horses to be euthanized has never kept them.

Also sometimes they just drop dead. We don’t yet know what happened to the ones who collapsed.

Remember when Hickstead died in the arena? It was a tragedy, but that horse had the best care in the world.

If a horse is running on the track, it’s not in the part of the racing industry you should be most worried about in terms of horse welfare. The real abuse happens when they stop running. There are a lot more ex-race horses than there are happy retirement homes for them.

And frankly if you ate a chicken sandwich today or ever drink milk or eat beef, you can spare me your pearl clutching about horse racing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:horse racing is an ancient sport and I don’t think it will disappear and fade the way greyhound racing is fading. It’s mostly because there is a lot of money in horse racing. A great deal of the money in us thoroughbred racing has an inexhaustible reserve - it comes from the Middle East. Many American horses are owned by Saudi oil barons. The richest race in the world is the Saudi cup, but the real money is in collecting stud fees of successful stallions. Financially, the racing industry feeds the breeding business, not the other way around.

Horse racing in Europe and Asia have fewer fatalities because of two main reasons - they don’t use all the drugs that American trainers use, and they race mostly on turf, which is softer than dirt, thus causing fewer injuries. Why don’t American horses race more on turf? It’s slower than dirt, and the races unfold in a different way. On turf, the ride builds gradually and usually comes down to a tight sprint at the end. On dirt, the pace is faster and there is usually more separation among horses at the end, as they tire and slow down.

Sadly, I don’t think concern for animal welfare is enough to shut down horse racing. There have been truly horrific incidents aside from the more well known events like Eight Belles and the recent spate of deaths. Google Maria Borell, Ferdinand, Alydar, Rick Dutrow, Medina Spirit and Bob Baffert, Jason Servis, Santa Anita deaths. The list goes on forever.

There have been some efforts to address the problems. Lasix has been banned from some tracks. Lasix is a diuretic (Lasix = lasts 6 hours) and is, I believe, where the phrase “pees like a racehorse” originated. But every crackdown reveals more and more rot. The crazy amounts of money being poured into American racing makes it difficult, if not impossible to truly reform.

Horse racing is fading. It used to be a major sport and we’re down to one race that anyone cares about. The Maryland tracks all have to be subsidized by gambling other than betting on races to survive. It’s a niche sports that is all but dead, but with supporters powerful enough to get the government to step in

This is what many people think because they don’t pay attention to a sport they don’t care for. It’s like when people are shocked to find out nascar is so popular. But horse racing is not fading in the us.

https://www.americasbestracing.net/the-sport/2022-us-horse-racing-betting-industry-handle-surges-highest-years

“The U.S. horse racing industry just recorded its largest annual wagering handle numbers since 2009. It’s important to note that this occurred across over 30% fewer races overall.”

“U.S. purses exceeded $1.1 billion, a 35.77% increase over the previous year
U.S. race days and total races jumped by more than 20% over last year”

[Anonymous]

Why is the NFL legal when we know it destroys mens brains? Money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tbh racing wouldn’t be at the top of my list for HORSE abuse, to say nothing of animal abuse in general.

Are you kidding? How would you feel if they euthanized dogs for dog races?

Racing greyhounds are treated very poorly.

[Anonymous]

I eat animals and use their fur, wool and skin to clothe myself, so I can't point fingers.

Also, I remember what Secretariat's owner always pointed out - that this was a horse who WANTED to run. He was good at it, he knew it, and that's what he liked to do.

The problem is interacting closely with other species when we cannot always know what they want, and how they feel. Homo Sapiens has domesticated animals for millenia, and most of these breeds would not survive in the wild now.

How can we treat them with respect, and stimulate them mentally with the activities they are good at and want to do? It's not enough to give them food and shelter.

As an animal biologist, I've always wondered about this.