Truemors
Big Brown
Big Brown, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, seems poised to win the Belmont Stakes on Saturday and take the Triple Crown. No horse has won all three races in 30 years.
Bred for Edge, Greatest Racers May Have Handicaps
Pins are seen in the left front hoof of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., June 2, 2008.
All Things Considered, June 4, 2008 ยท When Eight Belles' front legs snapped at this year's Kentucky Derby and she was euthanized on the track, it raised alarms throughout horse racing. The filly finished second to Big Brown, the horse that went on to win the Preakness and on Saturday will try to capture the third jewel in racing's Triple Crown: the Belmont Stakes.
But what happened to Eight Belles, Barbaro in the Preakness two years ago, Charismatic's nonfatal breakdown in the Belmont in 1999, and other thoroughbreds in other races have some people questioning whether thoroughbred racing and breeding are in the best interest of the horse. And Big Brown has a cracked hoof that's only added to the questions.
Let's start with that quarter crack. It happens all the time, to racehorses and non-racehorses alike. Untreated, they can be painful and can grow larger. Veterinarian Larry Bramlage, who was with Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby and is one of the veterinarians on call for the Belmont, says quarter cracks don't lead to catastrophic events. "The only concern is its effect on performance," he says, adding that horsemen have been treating them successfully for decades.
Bramlage sees a physical difference in thoroughbreds today. "If you just look at the conformation, the breed has changed," he says. The horses have lighter frames, and "heavier tops." They're built more like sprinters. "They have more muscle and less skeleton, which is very economical for the horse to run fast," he says.
After Eight Belles' breakdown, a sports columnist in The New York Times referred to horse racing as the new bullfighting. Some animal-rights groups have called for a ban on racing. And a congressional committee is investigating. Industry leaders have taken notice. The Jockey Club, which maintains the official thoroughbred registry, has a safety committee that's looking into issues such as whether legal steroids are safe and whether track surfaces need to be changed, and it is trying to get a handle on just how many horses break down.
source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91232566
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