Call To The Post

I hear the calls.  I feel the anger and frustration.  The storm clouds rain down for a good while and then lift.  But back come the calls, the patience wears thin.  We may not be able to wait this one out.  This time the opposition is fierce.

People have had enough of horse racing.  Too many deaths in the last year.  Almost 40 at Santa Anita alone.  "The Great Race Place" is fast becoming the great wasteland.
I'm unabashed.  I love horse racing.  Like horses, themselves, it has been an important part of my life an experience.  The recent rash of break-downs and controversial decisions are all part of the sport.  They always have been.  Somehow the media attention that currently swirls around the coverage of the sport has become a vicious vulture with talons ready to sink deeply.
I'm worried for the industry, but mostly because the image portrayed is not always fair and impartial.  Having been a correspondent for a national thoroughbred magazine...having had access to the backstretch (barn area) and having met, interviewed and become friends with some of the major players, I know there is another side.
I know what I know.

Yes, the recent spate of training and racing injuries and deaths is disturbing.  Yes, there are reasons and reforms that can and are being put in place.  most importantly, the industry itself must take up the banner and educate the public because there is not only too much to lose, there is no other way that the half-truths, stereotypes, and incorrect assumptions will be squared away with the reality.
If we look at the injury and fatality rates connected with other sports like football, boxing, and even skiing, we'll see that those connected with racing are not near the amount.  Yet no calls for banning pro football or skiing.  That will never happen.  People like to insinuate that horses are ill cared for and that racing surfaces are mostly unsafe.  It's an easy target because the popularity of the sport has waned and the public relies on short, hard-hitting summaries of the latest news.
Horsemen, most of them, really care about the equine athletes under their care.  Many of the folks in the barn area at any track were born into the sport.  There are, of course, exceptions, but a love of horses usually accompanies a person who begins the day at 4:30 or 5:00am and puts in long hours managing a stable.  It's the kind of profession that you have to love or you won't last long.
The horse racing industry employs thousands and any rash judgment about ending the sport would put so many people out of work at a time when the economic future of this country is so volatile.
In a country that is so diverse and so polarized, horse racing has the possibility of uniting disparate factions.  Much like the campaign of Seabiscuit in the Depression era, the country can and loves to come together to root on a Triple Crown champ or an exceptional athlete that has grabbed their attention.
Now, there is a downside that needs to be addressed too.  Next Post.