Eight Belle's demise signifies growing crisis in racing

In recent months, the horse racing industry has been fretting about the distaste for Polytrack among some horseplayers. The synthetic racing surface, designed to be easier on horses' legs, has turned out to be a handicapping puzzle that frustrates and annoys some of the folks betting at the mutuel windows.

Saturday's Kentucky Derby made it clear the sport has much bigger problems. The tragic death of the filly Eight Belles, who was euthanized after breaking both front ankles in the moments following her second-place finish, signifies a crisis point for racing.

In the past three years, we have seen a Kentucky Derby winner and a runner-up die from injuries suffered in the nation's most-watched races. The sport has too long neglected its moral and ethical obligations to its equine athletes. Now that public confidence has been shaken yet again, perhaps Eight Belles' sacrifice will speed the reforms begun in the wake of Barbaro's death.

The day after the Derby, casual fans wanted to talk about the filly's demise, not about Big Brown's dazzling victory. That's a bad sign for a sport desperate to gain new fans. Even Rick Dutrow, the swaggering trainer of Big Brown, seemed more worried than excited about running his porcelain-footed horse in the Preakness in two weeks.

"The surface (at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore) is too hard, and the harder the surface, the harder the track is on the horses," he told the Baltimore Sun. "Bad things can happen."

They've been happening with distressing regularity. Barbaro broke an ankle in the 2006 Preakness and was euthanized the next January after extraordinary efforts to save him. His injury, and a rash of fatalities at such tracks as Del Mar and Arlington Park, pushed more racing jurisdictions to replace dirt surfaces with Polytrack or other synthetic materials.

Statistics show the artificial surfaces -- typically made of ground-up rubber or carpet, wax and sand -- are safer. The Jockey Club released a report last month that showed a rate of 1.47 deaths per 1,000 starts on synthetic tracks, compared with 2.03 deaths per 1,000 starts on dirt.

But the surfaces are expensive to install. And the handicappers' gripes have been augmented by complaints by some owners and trainers that Polytrack produces slow times. Because money makes the horses go around, the industry has dragged its boots on synthetics, as well as on other issues contributing to equine infirmity.

Modern breeding practices, fueled by human greed, have created a more fragile thoroughbred. The exorbitant auction prices for rocket-fast 2-year-olds have driven pedigrees built for raw speed, with little regard for stamina and sturdiness.

In 1960, the average thoroughbred raced 11.3 times per year. In 2007, that number had fallen to 6.31. Remember The Green Monkey? Probably not; he sold for a record $16 million and raced only three times -- with one third- and two fourth-place finishes -- because of chronic injuries.

The lust for Derby fame, with the stallion-service riches that await the winner, leads to grueling race schedules that are tough on young, developing horses. Many retire early to the breeding shed before their soundness can be judged. Big Brown has been troubled by quarter cracks in his hooves and must wear rubber-tipped, glue-on shoes; as a Derby winner, he is likely to go on to sire little Browns who could inherit those foot problems.

Synthetic surfaces need more research and evolution, but they represent a powerful early step in better stewardship of these magnificent animals. So does the vision of the Jockey Club, a major driver in instituting a series of industry summits on horse welfare and safety.

Eight Belles' death has backed racing into an uncomfortable corner. If it doesn't get more aggressive in protecting its greatest asset, it risks further alienating an already appalled public. The Humane Society of the United States is watching carefully.

"The industry has not had a rigorous critic to set it in the straight and narrow," Humane Society president Wayne Pacelle said Monday in a statement. "Major problems have grown and festered. It's time for the thoroughbred industry to deal with its problems."

It's long past time for racing to dial down the greed and get back to putting the horse first. Eight Belles' trainer Larry Jones declared "she went out a champion to us." Let's hope, in her tragic legacy, she can be a champion for all the horses who deserve our respect and protection.

(Contact Rachel Blount at rblount(at)startribune.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)