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Good Tuesday morning. Let's talk this morning, briefly anyway, about poor Eight Belles, the filly who placed and then died at the Kentucky Derby. Everyone agrees that it is a tragedy. And horsemen and horsewomen generally agree that it's an unfortunate part of the business of horse racing-- the horse broke two ankles as she was pulling up, not while she was racing.

Check out this column by horse racing columnist Bill Finley, one of the deans of his craft. Finley takes the opportunity available as a result of Eight Belles demise to demand synthetic tracks, no race-day drugs for horses, no use of the whip, and the ban of horse slaughter. Now, I don't have a problem with any of these demands, standing alone, but piling them on after a race that clearly didn't have anything to do with whips or horse slaughter or problems with Churchill Downs' track surface seems to me to be, well, a bit hysterical. What do you folks think?

Comments

John Buonomo said...

Andrew, this is piling on as you said...too bad that people have to pile on an unfortunate event. There is no factual information supporting the claim that the synthetic track would have saved her ankles.

posted at 5:46 PM on May 6th 2008

David Haaker said...

Mr Finley and his fellow writers shold just calm down. Maybe we should ban football because a Redskins QB suffered a broken leg on a Monday Night Football game more than 20 years ago. I must have missed all the sponsors that have stop advertising on pro football, auto racing, and even pro wrestling.

From Andrew: Good post, David, and welcome to the debate!

posted at 5:12 PM on May 6th 2008

Paul Siegel said...

Allan Schott:

How would one prove that a horse being transported to Mexico or Canada was headed for slaughter? All you would need is a bill of lading showing the horses were going to a broker, sales agent or auction house.

Regardless, we can't control the laws or morals of other countries.

Horse meat has not been a component of pet foods in the US for even longer than the last remaining slaughterhouses have been closed.

posted at 4:54 PM on May 6th 2008

Allan Schott said...

While there are no slaughter plants in the US in operation for horses intended for human consumption, there is no law banning the transport to Mexico and Canda for this purpose. In addition, I still believe slaughter for non-human consumption is still permitted. Here is a link which explains this: http://www.hsus.org/legislation_laws/citizen_lobbyist_center/help_end_horse_slaughter.html

posted at 4:12 PM on May 6th 2008

Paul Siegel said...

Andrew:

I stand on what I said. I said "the legislation that has been passed", not "the federal legislation that has been passed". The states in which the last remaining slaughterhouses operated, (Illinois and Texas, if I'm not mistaken) have adopted the laws necessary to close them down, and there are no plants currently in operation in the US.

posted at 3:06 PM on May 6th 2008

Andrew Cohen said...

Actually, Paul, FEDERAL legislation to ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption and otherwise has NOT passed into law despite bipartisan support for the measure. I have been following that story closely for several years.

My point about Finley's piece is that the story of poor Eight Belles has nothing to do with slaughter, or synthetic surfaces or even the use of the whip. Her jockey did not abuse her.

posted at 11:52 AM on May 6th 2008

Allan Schott said...

I read the article and I would not call it hysterical but is using Eight Belles unfortunate demise as a 'call to arms'. Unfortunately, events like this puts a momentary bright light on racing's ills and the author is taking advantage of it to get his case heard.

posted at 10:44 AM on May 6th 2008

Paul Siegel said...

This comment from Finley says it all as far as I'm concerned:

" Would Barbaro, George Washington and Eight Belles still be alive had the Preakness, Breeders' Cup Classic and Kentucky Derby been run on a synthetic surface? The answer is, quite possibly."

"The answer is quite possibly"...gee that means the answer is also "quite possibly not". In fact there is insufficient evidence as of today about synthetic surfaces being any safer than dirt. You certainly can't say whether any particular horse's injury would have been less severe on a synthetic track.

By the way, apparently Mr. Finley is apparently totally unaware that there is not a single horse slaughtering plant in operation in the US. He must have missed the legislation that has been passed over the last couple of years putting the few remaining US slaughterhouses out of business.

Not one of Finley's finest efforts, to say the least.

posted at 10:24 AM on May 6th 2008

Eight Belles Hysteria Unfortunate

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