The horse racing event did not go too well on Saturday. It was to be the 141st racing of the Preakness Stakes which was to be held on Saturday. Nyquist who is a recognized champion was to try his best to retain his record in time for the Triple Crown race at Belmont which will be held in three weeks’ time. At 6:45pm past the racing time the media sent out alerts that there were two dead horses in the first four races. This came shortly after the Ethical Treatment of Animals announced about the two deaths. Roy and Gretchen Jackson watched Barbaro one of their horses suffer a broken leg and later get euthanized after eight months in the Preakness Stakes and another one who also broke their leg in Pimlico’s turf course and then put down immediately.
Homeboykris who is nine-years old came first in the first race and later collapsed and died after suffering cardiovascular failure. Preakiness has been mentioned twice in 2016 by the National Public Radio website, in Kentucky Derby and the other on Saturday. Links were also available on Twitter and Facebook which talked about horse injury. People were for the idea of cancelling the Preakiness event, with the argument that it was not very safe. The morning after the race, Keith Desormeaux who is the trainer of Exaggerator was asked whether he was okay running his horse even though he was aware of the consequences.
It is risky trying to run the horses at this particular moment after what happened to Homeboykris who was a nine-year old horse and who ran 63 races, and won four of his last six races. His recent owner had wanted the horse to retire safely after his racing days were over. Pramedya who was a four-year old and owned by the people who bred her had only run five times and won twice. Unfortunately, the reports on horse fatalities are not really concerns about the animals’ welfare but a way of making news, especially if the animals suffer during major competition events. News reporters rarely report on safety measures taken on racing grounds.
Media is supposed to cover great animal events such as horse racing, rather than focus too much on tragedy. They should be able to dig deep and ask meaningful questions and also make sure the horses involved in horse racing are well taken care of.
This article is published in: Horse Racing Betting, News
Tags: horse racing
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