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.