Horse manure

I just saw another update on Barbaro, the Kentucky-Derby winning racehorse whose leg literally exploded out of the gate at the Preakness Stakes on May 30th. Apparently, he’s clinging to life with a case of laminitis, a disease that forced the euthanasia of racing legend Secretariat in 1989. Barbaro’s condition is regularly mentioned in the news, and I’ve read that he’s even receiving bags of get-well cards from adults and children alike from around the world.

It’s a sad story, but let’s be honest. The biggest reason Barbaro wasn’t put to death on the track (this happens often enough that race organizers keep screens handy to place around a horse, so that it can be killed with some concession to privacy) is because Barbaro was an undefeated, high-earnings racehorse who 1.) was likely worth more money than his insurance would pay out, and 2.) would produce millions of dollars in stud fees, if he survived.

I don't have any doubts that the owners of Barbaro feel genuine concern for the well-being of their horse. By all accounts, they are supposed to be nice people who care a lot for him, and have been described in the press as humble, self deprecating, and all that other good stuff. But but the fact is, thousands of racehorses lacking Barbaro’s pedigree and income potential are euthanized on an annual basis. The fact that doctors are attempting to save an obvious lost-cause like Barbaro when other horses are often put to death with far less catastrophic injuries means one thing: like anything else, horseracing is only about the money. Barbaro's owner may have said otherwise, his own vet didn't:

"A normal horse on any other day in any other race would have been put down already."

---Nick Meittinis

Who are you going to believe, the millionaire owner/investor, or the guy who puts the needles into the horses?