CAN HORSE RACING SURVIVE?

In a time of changing sensitivities,

an ancient sport struggles to justify itself.

In 2019, dozens of thoroughbreds died at California’s Santa Anita Park.

As outrage built, the industry was forced to contend with an existential question:

Is racing inseparable from cruelty to animals?

MAY 15, 2021 – By William Finnegan

The linked article is long but a very worthwhile read or listen.

Yes, I said read or listen. There’s an audio file linked near the top of the article, a podcast – so you may choose to listen instead of reading.

Published in the print edition of The New Yorker on May 24, 2021, with the headline “Blood on the Tracks.”…

This article is a wealth of information about horse racing, in the United States and the information – and the industry – includes strong ties to Canada as well.

For that reason we’ve chosen to feature this article for a second time.

P.S. Our followers from Australia and New Zealand will find it interesting too.

What happened at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships in late 2019 looked like the end of horse racing in California, maybe in America.

It was the twelfth and final race of a two-day series, at Santa Anita Park, the storied track near Los Angeles. Sixty-eight thousand people packed the Art Deco grandstand, the apron, the infield, the high-priced suites.

The “handle”—the total betting for the day—was a healthy hundred and seventeen million dollars, but thoroughbred racingitself was on life support.

Since the beginning of the year, thirty-five horses had died at Santa Anita.

Public dismay had risen to the point that Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, had told the Times that racing’s “time is up” if it did not reform.

Dianne Feinstein, the state’s senior senator, had released a letter calling the Breeders’ Cup races a “critical test for the future of horseracing.”

LISTEN OR READ HERE